


Two Sides of the Same Coin

by ObsidianRomance



Category: Supernatural RPF
Genre: Alcoholism, Alternate Universe, Anal Sex, Angst, Blow Job, Bottom Jared, Frottage, Hurt/Comfort, M/M, Minor Character Death, Rimming, Slow Build, Temporary Character Death, Top Jensen, cursing
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-01-31
Updated: 2014-01-31
Packaged: 2018-01-10 18:06:14
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 8
Words: 38,840
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1162848
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ObsidianRomance/pseuds/ObsidianRomance
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Jared is a Seer who uses his touch based abilities to see the past and communicate with the dead. He also happens to be a consultant for the Austin police department.<br/>Jensen is a supernatural hunter who kills things with as much spiritual power as Jared for breakfast.<br/>They get wrapped up working the same case and going about it in polar opposite fashions and butting heads…until, they both get a chance to show the other exactly what they're capable of and that, even though they're from two different walks of life, they are both broken in ways that only each other could understand.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. The Seer

**Author's Note:**

> Artist: [Evian_Fork](http://evian-fork.livejournal.com/)  
> Disclaimer: This is fiction. I am just borrowing names and faces for fun. It's not real!  
> A/N – This became something larger than I anticipated. I loved the concept and I think I could have made this even bigger but this length seemed good for this story. I can see writing more about these two because they have many more tales to be told. They have bumps in the road. I wanted there to be a slow build and I have no idea if it worked or not. My life has been insane so I have to say I am proud of myself for getting this done. XOXO and thanks for reading!  
> Beta (and love of my life who won't marry me): [Demondetox](http://archiveofourown.org/users/demondetox/pseuds/demondetox) Thank you so much for your hand holding and editing. XOXO
> 
> Created for the [spn_reversebang](http://spn-reversebang.livejournal.com/).
> 
> I was lucky enough to work with [Evian_Fork](http://evian-fork.livejournal.com/) for this round. It is the first time I ever felt ambitious enough to do a reverse bang and I feel so lucky to have been paired with my office. The easy connection and transference of ideas between us made it a great first experience and definitely left me with happy thoughts. Thank you so much for creating art to inspire me and then making a ton more to scatter throughout the fic. It means so much that my story seems to go above and beyond expectations for the fic. I hope you enjoy it my dear! *hugs* It was such a pleasure working with you!  
> (Go check out the master art post [HERE](http://evian-fork.livejournal.com/148614.html))

There is a pain burrowing into Jared’s brain. It’s right between his eyes, past the bridge of his nose and he knows he’s doing it to himself. He doesn’t have any intentions of stopping though because he’s not done yet.

He knows that if the police have called him in on a case then things are more complex then they’ll ever let on. Though Jared works with the law he _isn’t_ the law and there is a very thick line drawn between the two. They rarely tell him too much about cases other than that they need his particular brand of expertise and the names of the people he is dealing with.

Right now he’s staring at Mrs. Landers, Carol as she is insisting he call her, and trying to figure out what to tell the woman who is giving him hopeful doe eyes.

He hates that part about this.

Whatever bullshit the cops feed the families he is trying to help, Jared is sure that it sounds something along the line of, “Mr. Padalecki is the best, he’ll be able to give us some insight.”

Only, sometimes Jared can’t give them some insight. Sometimes things beyond the veil of the living are not so cut and dry. And more often than not, they don’t feel like cooperating on law enforcement’s schedule.

He feels like he is going to pass out and he’d much rather leave the house than sit and figure things out but he can’t. It’s his job. He’s been blessed, or cursed, with his ability and he’s sworn to use it to help as many people as he can.

So he stays.

He can’t blame his ability alone for the throbbing in his skull. The area they are standing in smells fairly charred and though it’s cooled, everything feels hot. Jared feels it right in the core of his brain. To most people it makes no sense. To Jared, this is just the warm up.

“Please? Karl, he…” Carol’s voice trails off and she dabs at her eyes again with her handkerchief.

Taking a stop forward, Jared grabs the tips of the leather glove on his left hand and peels it off. It comes off in a smooth tug, the material long grown soft and worn after many days of being Jared’s faithful accessory. Crouching, he presses his hand to a slat that seems unburned.

Even though he knows what is coming, the air still leaves Jared in a sudden rush.

Everything hits him at once and he has to grit his teeth to hold himself together. There are flames, a ton of them. They’re all encompassing and higher than he is tall; he feels them licking at his skin and burning holes in his flesh. He knows they’re not real but they feel real enough and he lets out a scream.

Then he sees a man, Karl, assuming the pictures the police have shown him were correct. He’s burning just like Jared only he’s truly being consumed by flames. He’s choking on smoke and suffocating. It’s vivid enough for Jared to realize what he’s seeing. Karl’s stuck on replay, his spirit on a never ending loop of being burned alive as the house catches flames.

Jared _feels_ it. He screams again as the flames grow higher and hotter. He wants to move his hand and snuff out the pain but he can’t. Not yet.

Somewhere in his vision he can see faded forms of Carol and Officers Roberts in the background. They’re there with him but they don’t know it. Karl is practically beside Carol but she doesn’t look at him. Jared knows, he can tell, that Carol feels Karl’s presence. She’s been reacting to it all night without realizing. The chills, the nervous eye dart when she swore her mind was playing tricks on her and she saw something? They’re all signs that maybe this time the police department was spot on in thinking they needed Jared’s help.

Jared himself doesn’t talk but that doesn’t mean he isn’t speaking to Karl. He hangs on just long enough to get a name from Karl before he lets out a gasp and falls forward, holding himself up with the one arm he’s using to keep contact with the wood. He burns hotter and feels flames in his throat and lungs until he can’t scream any more. The world is melting and he focuses on the connection he’s just made with Karl and urges the spirit to rest. To leave. To go in peace. He can’t do anything more here. Jared can take over from now on.

It works.

Like a switch flipping, suddenly Jared’s world is cool again. There are no flames or bright colors. Everything is dark and _normal_. Everyone is staring at Jared but it’s so common that he doesn’t even bother to care. Smacking at his face, he finds that there are no holes in his flesh, no burns, no blisters. He swears he’s hotter, like he’s been baking in something too big for him to understand.

It’s not.

It is, however, too big for everyone else in the room to understand.

Slipping on his glove, Jared turns to face Carol. He puts a comforting hand on the woman’s shoulder and gives an exhausted smile. “Karl…he loves you. But you know that part. He…he’s okay. He said he’s okay. He’s at peace.” He sees Carol shed a tear. He wishes he could say more but there wasn’t much time to hold up the connection with Karl’s spirit before Jared had to send the man to his final resting place. The flames were too draining on him. Letting his hand slip from Carol, he headed towards Roberts. Feet heavy, he stumbled once but caught his balance before anyone else tried to hold him up. “Guy Scarpinito,” he murmurs on an exhale.

“What?” Roberts gets closer. He throws Jared a skeptical look but pulls out a notepad despite that fact.

Pinching the bridge of his nose, Jared feels pain pulsing outward. “It wasn’t an accident, the fire. It was arson and Karl was murdered, not accidentally burned to death. The one that killed him is a man named Guy Scarpinito.”

“Guy?” Carol’s voice is shrill despite being forced out through tears.

Jared knows what comes next. He doesn’t need to be here for the dirty part. He’s seen enough heartbreak in Carol’s eyes; he’s met his quota.

When he walks out of the house, it’s without anyone’s opposition. Jared knows that even though the police force values his help, they are often uncomfortable around him. He gets it. He has alternate ways of getting to the bottom of a situation and sometimes admitting they need those ways makes the law a little cloudy.

Out on the sidewalk in the fall air, Jared finally feels like he can breathe. It’s not much but his lungs are finally taking in air that doesn’t come with a hint of ashes.

The walk isn’t long but by the time Jared gets to Canterbury’s he’s about ready to drop.

A bar probably isn’t the best idea right now but it’s the only idea he’s got. Slipping through the door, he slides into a dark corner of the bar. He’s unnoticed, another common occurrence he’s come to depend on.

Except, Kelly’s got her eyes on him the exact moment he walks in the door. She always seems to know when he’s coming. She’s not psychic or anything like that, Jared’s checked. Still, she seems to be on the same wavelength as Jared sometimes. Behind the bar, she follows him to his seat, digging under the bar and pulling out a glass.

It’s Jared’s glass. She keeps it there for him, wrapped in a towel behind a part of the bar no one else knows about. She has it down on the dark shine of the bar and is filling it with ice and Johnnie Walker before Jared can get a word out.

When she looks up, it is with displeasure and a slathering of pity. “Jay, you’re going to – ”

“Don’t start, Kelly.” Jared keeps his eyes down and shakes his head.

“You’re going to kill yourself Jay.” Kelly slams the bottle down on the bar loud enough to let Jared know she’s not happy. With a hand on her hip, she tosses long black tresses over her shoulder and shakes her head in slow disapproving motions.

Kicking back the drink, Jared coughs. The alcohol burns and it reminds him too much of the spectral flames that were licking at his throat earlier. He doesn’t usually drown his troubles in alcohol, it’s not his style, but he’s here now and coughing again as he squeezes his eyes shut and swallows. He has to admit, the one benefit to alcohol is that it dulls the edges so that they don’t stick out in his mind so prominently. “Kel, I mean it. Don’t start. I…I just can’t handle it right now.”

Kelly’s face falls but her sass stays in place. She’s still not happy but her movements show that she’s not sure what to do about it. Huffing, she pours her friend another drink before returning the bottle to its place behind the bar.

Jared swirls the golden liquid in his glass. He knows Kelly’s right. It’s getting worse for him. It’s taking longer for him to bounce back from spiritual encounters. He feels like falling over right now despite the case being fairly run of the mill. The flames may have been new but dealing with a wayward spirit is an old trick for him.

He drinks the whiskey and hopes it’s enough for him to fool himself into thinking he’s fine.

Even if it isn’t fine it has to be.

He has work to do.

He stares at the wood grain of the bar, barely feeling his own life, let alone everyone else around him when he’s startled by his phone buzzing in his pocket.

Pulling it out, he realizes it’s been hours since he left the last crime scene. Hours. How he lost track of time he doesn’t know but he sees Police Chief Danners’ phone number pop up on the screen.

If the Chief is calling him, it’s a big deal.

He’s tired but his brain has already locked in on the fact that he’s fine. He’s fine and he has a lot more work to do.

He’s stumbling out of the bar and Kelly is screaming at him but he keeps walking. She’s his only friend in the world and he’s walking out on her because walking out makes things so much easier than staying and trying to make sense of things.


	2. The Hunter

Jensen wipes a trickle of sweat from his brow with the back of his hand. It comes away grimy and the deadened color of old blood. It’s enough to remind him that it isn’t his.

He’s sure he’s bleeding somewhere; he usually does. It isn’t important at the current moment. Right now he’s more concerned with getting the job done and surviving than tending to wounds and showering. There’s nothing life threatening going on and he’s definitely suffered from worse.

He doesn’t mind the ache in his side and the exhaustion in his muscles. It’s what he lives for. It makes him feel alive. He didn’t build a name for himself as a supernatural hunter by sitting on his ass and working about every bump and bruise that came his way.

He bumped back.

He fought through hell and purgatory. He’s got a collection of mended bones and pale scares to help vouch for the story. There’re weapons too, ones no one on earth can trace their origins. He hasn’t been to heaven yet but he’s sure that, given enough time, he’ll get there and leave just as quickly.

His heart’s still kicking after years of work because he’s smart and he’s honed such a skill that sometimes his ability to get into monsters’ heads scares him. He’s almost too good for a normal human. But then again, he’s not exactly normal and neither is his life.

What he is, is adaptive. The strict set of rules that he lives his life by seem to leave him in a paradox but it’s what keeps him alive and helps him roll with the punches of anything and everything supernatural. It’s hard to do but he can walk the line between the human world and the world that is his job to bring down.

These rules are the reason he’s decked out in layers of clothing despite the sweltering humidity surrounding him. Being in the temperate rainforest, everything feels damp. It’s not hot exactly but lugging around his gear and refusing to take off layers of clothing meant to protect him leave Jensen feeling like he’s suffocating. Frankly, the National Park Services are lucky he got his ass out here to help them out. He’s never been to Seattle, let alone Quinault Rainforest, and it wasn’t exactly on his to-do list but a rouge nest of vampires is too much of a temptation to resist.

Plus the paycheck is pretty decent. He shakes his head and lets out a scoff at the thought. He guesses maybe those park rangers were getting desperate enough to pad his pay with some of their own earnings as an added incentive. Jensen’s not going to tell them that taking out over thirty vamps in one case is enough incentive for him.

He hears a branch snap in the distance and an echo through the lush greenery surrounding him and he drops his bag to the ground, letting the strap silently slide down his arm until it hits the forest floor in complete silence. Fingers twitching on the base of his weapon, some archaic weapon that looks cruder than it is, Jensen tenses. Eyes searching, he gets a better grip on the blade, letting the pads of his fingers trail over the bone handle. In an instant, there is a flash of movement and Jensen’s heart shoots into overdrive. Despite being prepared, a huge Elk is not what he was expecting and he startles and almost trips over himself as he gets out of the way from the panicked animal.

Lips curving up, Jensen isn’t exactly disappointed with what just happened. If the Elk is frightened, that means there’s something frightening it. Several somethings in fact.

Because he’s done things like this before, because he’s taken down whole vampire nests, Jensen knows he’s being hunted. He _knows_ the vamps he’s looking for are hunting him. He’s banking on it. Why waste the whole day searching them out when they’ll come to him? It used to make him feel like nerves were crawling under his skin to lay in wait while things beyond most people’s imaginations sought him out. Now he’s got it under control; his nerves are locked down. There is power in being able to wait.

It doesn’t take long. The sound of movement comes again and this time it most definitely isn’t from Elk’s treading over the forest floor. The footfalls are faster and more intelligent.

The first vamp that tries to ambush Jensen has no idea what a huge mistake he’s just made.

Jensen spins so fast that there is a brief appearance of shock on the vampire’s face before Jensen swiftly decapitates him.

That first kill opens a flood gate and Jensen takes off running. The second and third kills are easy but the fourth takes him down to the ground and there is a struggle and a knee to the gut before Jensen finds a way to brace the vampires body far enough away so that he can maneuver the blade up and through the neck muscle straining to get closer.

Throwing the dead weight off him, he scrambles to his feet but he’s a fraction too late because two new vampires take their dead nest-mate’s place and Jensen finds himself dodging the snap of fanged jaws and an uppercut to the jaw.

“Son of a – ” a trail of spittle flies in the direction that his head just spun as the vampire gets a solid punch. It hurts like hell and Jensen tries to slide his jaw back into place by habitually wiggling it twice. “That wasn’t very nice.” He growls and after rolling over several times, he throws the vampires off him and kicks his feet out so that he can hop back onto them. Ducking low, he takes out one vampire on the down swing and then pulls his arm back up to decapitate the other.

Running down a wider path in the rainforest, Jensen dodges another trio of vampires. He spins and slams his back into a tree trunk so that he can yank out his Beretta. The bullets won’t do much to kill the vampires but it sure as hell will slow them down.

The male vampire leading the pack gets close enough to send a splatter of blood across Jensen’s face and chest when he pulls the trigger and sends a bullet straight through the heart. Jensen’s got a riffle with wooden bullets in his duffle but that’s back where this whole fight began and he can’t think about what a mistake it was in leaving the bag on the ground. Instead, he kicks out to the side and sends the vamp to the floor while he gives the other two creatures, females, an elbow to the chest and a kick of their own. They’re still trying to lock their sights on Jensen when the man’s blade is sending them to a final resting place.

Jensen’s breathing hard by the time he’s killed most of the vampires. The kills aren’t hard but there are more than Jensen thought there were and he’s tired. Face set in a narrow eyed glare, he strengthens his stance and dodges a punch from the last remaining vampire. Stepping back, his foot lands on a rotted branch and he stumbles.

The vampire smirks and looks down at him. He licks his lips in hunger and grabs Jensen by the collar of his shirt. “Don’t bother getting up.” He hauls the hunter to his feet and sends him flying through the air until he lands with a painful crack against the wide span of a tree.

Stars explode behind Jensen’s eyes as he struggles to keep them open. Groaning, he rubs a hand to the back of his head and tries to get up. He fails and falls to his hands and, letting out an “oouff” when the vampire lands a kick to his gut and sends his battered body another foot away. His hand scrambles in the lead litter for the blade he knew he was clutching when the vamp threw him this way. He connects with it and grabs on just in time for the creature to kick him again, this time flipping him on his back.

Most of Jensen’s brain knows this is a bad situation. He’s probably broken a rib, or at least bruised a couple. Licking his lips he forces himself to take the blows while figuring a way to get out of this position.

The chance comes when the vampire makes a snap for his neck. Pulling from his reserves, Jensen brings up a knee with such force that it loosens the vampire’s hold on him. He’s able to spin them around so the creature is backed up against a tree trunk and he sends the blade through his neck, landing it with a sickening thud into the thick bark.

When it’s all over, Jensen’s covered in sweat and blood.

There are piles of vampire bodies all around him but cleanup duty wasn’t on the job requirements, so he leaves them. He’s going to pretend that is the only reason why he walks away. He’s absolutely going to ignore the bruises blooming under his skin and the shoulder he knows is out of the socket.

Making his way back to the abandoned duffle bag, he picks it up in his good hand and lines himself up against a tree. Tugging on his dislocated shoulder, he rotates it back into place with a pained grunt before shucking off his jacket. There’s blood everywhere, most of it belonging to something else.

There is clean clothing in his car parked a few miles outside of the park. There’s water and painkillers too. There’s also booze, which, to Jensen, is kind of like a combination of both fore mentioned items. It’s not a bad walk back but it’s going to be longer with the limp Jensen’s doing a stellar job of ignoring.

Halfway there, his cell phone starts vibrating against the weapons in the duffle bag. Jensen ignores it but when it keeps happening he fishes it out and answers with a gruff, “what?”

The voice that comes through the other side of the line is startled, thrown into uncertainty by Jensen’s attitude. “Is this…is this Jensen Ackles?”

“Maybe. And you are?” Holding the phone to his ear with his shoulder, Jensen grabs the bag again and sets off in the direction of his car.

“This is Police Chief Danners of Austin, Texas. I was given this number by a connection we have several states over.” He pauses to compose himself. “I’m looking for Jensen Ackles, the hunter.” He breathes the last part like it’s a dirty secret that people aren’t supposed to know about, let alone for it being spoken on the tongue of law enforcement.

“Well you found him.” Jensen’s voice is gravely after the fight and as much as he’s trying to hold the phone conversation together, he’s fighting to sound like he can actually breathe. His ribs are making it difficult but he somehow figures out a way to push past the pain and stay strong.

“I was…well, we were hoping you could head down here. I think we have a case that requires your skill set.” There’s a sigh before he continues with a hurried, “we’ll pay. We’ll even pay for your flight and accommodations if you let us know what airport you’ll be flying out of.”

“That won’t be necessary.” Jensen brakes through a wall of greenery and sets his sights on his car, dark green, almost black, paint job gleaming even under the heavy canopy of trees.

“We insist. And if the pay isn’t good enough, we’re flexible. We…I think we need you and I think you’ll be interested. I can’t talk about it over the phone but if you get down here, we’ll tell you what you need to know.” Danners’ voice takes on a more authoritative command. “Are you interested?”

Hell yeah, Jensen’s interested. It isn’t every day law enforcement gives Jensen the okay to kill on the government’s dime. If they’re calling him, it must be something big. He wants in, despite not knowing the details. “We can talk about it,” he lets out coolly.

“Excellent. We’ll have a flight ticket waiting for you at the airport. Where should we send it?”

“Don’t bother.” Jensen hauls open the trunk of the 1969 ZL1 Camaro, throwing the duffle in with a clang before slamming it shut.

There is confusion on the other side of the line but Jensen cuts to the chase. “One – I don’t do planes. Two – the kind of weapons I come with aren’t exactly airport security friendly. So no, I don’t need a plane ticket. I’ll drive. Give me a week to get things settled.” There is a creak as he yanks open the car’s back passenger door and finds himself a clean shirt and flask.

“You have three days,” Danners voice responds and it’s clear that the two men are going to dissolve into a battle for control.

Snorting, Jensen growls out, “four.” Unscrewing the flask’s cap, he takes a long draw of the alcohol inside, swallowing with a pained gulp.

“Four,” Danners repeats in agreement. “I’ll text you the address. See you in four days.” The click to disconnect the phone call is immediate.

Sliding into the driver’s seat, Jensen lets his head fall back against the head rest. He closes his eyes and forces himself to believe that four days is more than enough time to get himself back in the game.


	3. Collide

Jared rubs at his temples and tries to remember why he thought downing so much Johnnie Walker last night was a good idea. He’d shown up at the Danners’ office barely able to see straight, earning him an eye roll and an immediate dismissal.

Today is a new day and after he got over the brief moment of wishing he didn’t have to open his eyes ever again, Jared is ready to put himself together and actually get some work done.

A hangover isn’t the only thing he’s battling. The house Danners told him to report to is too far outside of town to walk and not near any form of public transportation. He, reluctantly, accepted a ride from an on duty police officer, knowing that a ride in the back of an active police car came with the possibility of Jared picking up on some very nasty things. It makes him tense while he constantly tugs at the edges of his leather gloves and forces his fingers to push against and test the limits of the fabric.

Walking around the house, Jared isn’t sure why he’s there. His surroundings seem peaceful. Everything is clean and crisp. There is a newness to the house and Jared can tell it’s been built recently. That makes Jared relax. New things don’t hold as much confusion as historic ones.

It’s all peaceful until he rounds the corner, ducking behind the stairwell and he comes face to face with a splatter of blood.

A splatter is putting it lightly. It’s more like a giant darkening stain in the shape of a man.

There are forensics techs scattered around and a flashbulb goes off, making Jared squint and pull his face away from the source.

“Jared! There you are.” Officer Costa checks his watch and makes his way towards Jared. “We’ve been waiting on you.”

“That’s your buddy Klein’s fault. He was on freak pick-up duty.” Jared throws the last self-directed comment in there to watch Costa squirm. Jared isn’t an idiot. He knows that he makes the other officers nervous. He’s sure that in their heads there is a combination of fear that Jared’s powers are going to put them out of a job and some type of war with themselves as they try to rationalize siding with someone whose makeup dabbles in the supernatural. Costa doesn’t make an attempt to refute Jared’s claim and that seems to frustrate the man. Jared’s caught him letting his prejudice show and no one likes being made a fool. It doesn’t happen often but sometimes Jared feels like he has to take control of the meager power he has over them.

The standoff between them is cut off when Danners pulls his nose out of paperwork bearing the coroner’s handy work. “Jared…” He studies the man for a moment, checking for signs of capability. “Feeling better today, I hope?”

“More like myself, yes.” Jared nods in greeting and runs a gloved hand thought his hair, pushing the long strands back over the curve of his skull. “So, what do we have here?”

Danners opens his mouth to start but closes it again. He sighs and turns his palms upwards to do a sweeping gesture of the scene. “We were…we were hoping you could tell us.”

Jared follows the man’s arm movement and notices the blood stain again. “Tell you why there’s a freakishly humanoid shaped blood stain on the floor? I figured that’s what the forensics guys are for.”

“Well,” Danners pinches the bridge of his nose and shakes his head. “Listen, Jared…You know we appreciate all your help on cases but sometimes we just like to solve things the old fashioned way. This case, however, is turning out to be anything but. We’ve kept it out of the news and we haven’t breathed a word to you about it because we weren’t sure what we were dealing with. We’re still not sure. But I think we know it’s not our particular bred of bad guy.” He licks his lips in hopes that he doesn’t have to paint the picture more clearly for Jared.

Looking closer at the stain, Jared tries to figure out what about it has Danners so sure it’s something supernatural. It looks like blood. Plain old run of the mill blood. Taking a step closer, Jared notices it seems grittier, not the usual dried up fluid that he’s seen before. “What the…”

“This isn’t the first time this has happened. It’s not even the second,” Danners continues. “It’s the fourth crime scene in this area. They all have the same specifics. There’s a stain that looks just like that in every house. The positioning is a defensive one, like the victim was trying to get away. Forensics tested the blood and we’ve identified four men who have been reported missing in the last few weeks. But that’s not all they’ve found. The blood isn’t just _blood_. It’s everything. It is hair and organs and bones all liquefied and splattered there like the house just pulled the person into it. It sounds crazy but no one can find traces of anything else. It’s like they just,” Danners makes two closed fists before he flicks his fingers outward to reveal his palms, “‘poof,’ disappeared.”

“And that’s why you need me,” Jared states.

“That’s why we need you.” Danners clarifies with a nod. “When we’re out of options we call in someone who knows a few unorthodox ones.”

“I know things that stray from the confines of human law. That doesn’t make them unorthodox.” Jared side steps in front of the blood stain and sizes it up. He knows little about blood splatter but he can imagine that what Danners said is true. The lines around the edge of the blood denote that the body may have been sucked inside the house. It’s not that strange of a phenomenon in Jared’s world but it is weird to anyone uniformed or the second sight Jared has seemed to come with. “So you’re hoping I know what did this?”

“That’s the plan.” Danners flips through the files in his hands while looking more lost than he’s ever been before. “Bone, Jared. There was bone and guts like the damn body was pureed or something. What the hell does that?”

Jared gets down into a low crouch beside the stain. He traces the wood grain that follows the edges about as acutely as a four year old’s drawing. The leather on his glove catches slightly and he feels where it goes rigid before turning to blood, likes it’s been blown out or the middle’s been sucked in. Sucking in his lower lip, he peels off his glove and drops it on his lap so that he can press his bare palm to the middle of the stain. For a brief second the fact that his hand is in the middle of someone’s gore makes Jared’s stomach turn but he feels awful when he realizes he’s dealt with worse. The feeling is fleeting because Jared’s breath is sucked out of him and he feels like there is a vice grip tightening around his lungs.

He knows he initiated contact with the blood stain but something else entirely is in control of the action now. He can’t move. He’s immobile. He’s freezing. He can’t breathe. Everything turns to shades of gray and blues that are so dulled they might as well be gray. There is a tightening to the situation. The air feels too thick to pass through and his muscles contract so that they’re defensive and taut.

He doesn’t see anything but he feels everything. It’s wrong. It’s like a nightmare you know you’re having but can’t wake up from. He’s never felt anything quite like this before but it feels like death. His brain can’t figure out what that means but it is the only explanation he can come up with. Lungs spasming and trying to figure out how to breathe through the ice of the room, Jared feels something touching him; touching him at the base of his neck. He keeps feeling it and realizes it goes deeper, like something’s touching his brain, touching the part that lies beneath the base of his skull and he knows he’s going to be sick as soon as he can move again.

But he can’t.

All he can do is feel like something is messing with him. Something is draining him. Whatever power he usually draws from, it’s dimming completely.

That’s never happened before.

His fingers twitch against the stain. There are two _things_ there with him and while one’s throwing off malicious coils of energy, the other is just _there_. Jared uses that to deflect against and he breaks out of the hold placed on him.

He comes crashing back into reality and it hurts. It feels like he’s falling too fast from too high as he slams into the glass stillness of a lake. Everything stings and he gasps as reality drowns him. He’s on his feet in seconds but he’s still blinded, making him stumble and stagger into a police officer.

“Whoa! Jared, hey!” The officer grabs Jared by the shoulders and tries to steady him. He looks into Jared’s unseeing eyes and waves a hand across them. “Hey, Jared! Hey! What happened?”

Jared looks as terrified as he felt. He still can’t see for the moment but his senses trickle back enough for him to find his way towards the front door, stumbling onto the porch and grabbing the small hand railing for support as he throws up into the overgrown shrubbery.

The air is warm but it feels burning against Jared’s chilled skin. He shivers and wipes the back of his hand across his mouth. He knows he’s just caused a scene. He knows he is going to turn around to face people who already thought he was crazy but now think he’s even crazier.

Unsurprisingly, he’s right.

He makes his way inside, picks up his missing glove and slips it back on. “No.”

That one word slaps Danners in the face and he makes a sputtering noise as he looks at Jared in confusion. “What?”

“No. I can’t help you. Whatever _this_ is…it isn’t friendly. It’s evil. I’ve never felt anything like this. I…” Even talking about it makes Jared shiver. “No, Danners. I can’t. It’s not…It’ll kill me. I felt it. It’s too powerful for me to control.”

Danners looks shocked and for good reason. Jared has never encountered something he couldn’t handle, ever. “Jared you can’t…”

“I can.” Guard up, Jared shakes his head. “Listen, Danners, I’m sorry but I can’t help you.” Despite having a long walk ahead of him, it’s a walk Jared doesn’t mind taking as long as it is away from this house.

“He had a three month old baby, Jared. He has a widow who needs closure,” Danners yells after him.

Jared freezes in his tracks and curses under his breath. He hates when people play dirty but his heart is already bleeding at the thought of a widow and a fatherless infant. It’s a struggle but he takes a step forward.

Danners is still hot on his trail. “And the others? They had families too. There are three women widowed in total, eight orphaned children, and the first victim was the sole caregiver for an elderly mother with multiple sclerosis. It’s going to happen again Jared. It’s going to keep happening but you can stop it. These people…they were….” Danners pauses at the intensity of the situation at hand. “The doors to all the houses were locked from the outside. These victims were locked inside on purpose. We think it was by people who knew what would happen to them.” Voice dipping low Danners speaks in a whisper. “You’re the only one who can stop this. You know that, right?”

“Damn it.” Jared spins on his heels and looks up at the ceiling. He knows. He’s always known. He has a gift. He has a curse. He has _something_ that he can use for good. People in his world rarely believe in what he does but the proof is out there in the sense that he does solve crimes. He _does_ help people. “Damn you, Danners.” Jared knows before he even agrees to help that his heart is already in this. “You know what you’re asking me to do? Right?”

“I didn’t know…but now?” Danners makes a gesture towards the blood stain in reference to Jared’s previous actions. “I think I get it now.”

“It’s my life on the line here just as much as another victim’s.” Jared lets all pretenses of walking away drop and makes the slow return to the crime scene with Danners.

“Maybe. We…We’ve hired someone else to help you. This case is too big for…for…any of us. The department has a full blown serial killer on our hands and we’re a step away from the FBI taking over. We hired someone who does what you do.”

Widening his eyes in disbelief, Jared raises both eyebrows. “Someone who does what I do?”

“Yeah, a hunter of sorts. He’ll be here tomorrow.”

Jared’s insulted. He’s sure Danners has no idea what type of wound he’s just opened but it’s exposed nonetheless. “A hunter just butchers the things you don’t believe in. They don’t do what I do. _I_ help people.” He makes a scoffing noise from the back of his throat and crosses his arms. It’s getting hard to act like he’s holding it together after his encounter with the supernatural presence before. He’s glad Danners said tomorrow because Jared is pretty sure today is out of the question.

“And he hunts the things that hurt people.” Danners shakes his head. “Play nice, Jared. We all want the same thing, right?”

They want the same thing, sure. Jared, however, is starting to suspect that maybe Danners just wants a lot of dead things and the hunter probably does too. He’s starting to wonder if they’ll care too much if he joins that list of dead things.

*****************

The fact that Danners is the one to pick Jared up the next day speaks to the importance of the case. Danners must have someone breathing fire down upon him to be getting his hands dirty with a case. Usually he orchestrates from a safe distance but he’s in the trenches with the rest of his men and women and he’s dragging Jared down with him.

The house is exactly the same but Jared knows what’s waiting for him inside. It’s enough to make him shiver.

The officers designated to putting pieces of the case together to paint a bigger picture deem they’ve found enough information to hold a meeting before anyone gets started.

Jared senses that maybe the meeting is a bit unconventional. Instead of being in the police precinct, they’ve set up shop in one of the spare rooms in the house. If they only knew, if they only felt, what Jared knew and felt, they wouldn’t want to spend enough time in the house to take a picture, let alone set up a giant dry erase board with tacked up pictures of all four victims.

Looking at the faces of the men, Jared wonders whose blood his fingers made contact with. He assumes it is the man in the last photo, and wishes the man wasn’t smiling. Considering his frequency of encountering ghosts, Jared figures it was only a matter of time before he placed names and faces to the spirits he was picking up on but seeing images of four _very_ alive men hits him hard.

There is little to link the victims other than their genders. Their ages range from 30 -56 and they live in Austin, Texas. To Jared, there is very little in common. He almost voices that when someone else does it for him.

“These men have seemingly nothing in common.” The plain clothed detective states as she makes a sweeping motion over the 8x10 glossy photos. She’s got a badge hanging around her neck and a name plate across the bottom gleams and reads “Officer Beaty.” “But we dug deeper and found out they all have something in common. This man, Ian Jozits, was in foreclosure on his house and delinquent on all his bill payments.” She flips through her notes and waves towards the board. “The next two men were in equal financial ruin, only the second victim needed money to continue cancer treatments that his medical insurance wouldn’t cover. The third had his car repossessed and he and his family were living with his wife’s parents. Our fourth victim here,” she taps the white board with her rolled up notes, “he was a little more difficult. His wife didn’t mention money problems but when we got the warrant to look into Mr. Rendon’s bank records we found that they were bled dry. He’d taken out several credit cards without his wife knowing and used them to pay off their housing bills, thus keeping her in the dark about their financial problems.”

A wise ass officer with his back propped against the doorway snorts. “So what? Who the hell would want to kill a bunch of penniless old saps?”

“That’s where is gets interesting,” the detective continues, unfazed. “All four men have bank accounts that show increases we can’t place on any timeline with the men’s employment and paychecks. Then there’s a huge jump in funds over the last few weeks. In every man’s account they start to deplete and stay that way until their deaths. We’re thinking these men were the victims of some loan shark type of organization. They got in too deep and couldn’t pay back so they paid with their lives.”

“Alright,” Danners barks, breaking up the meeting. “You hear the lady. We’re going to look into the known loan shark rings we’ve been monitoring. And there might be some new players in the game based on how much money we’re dealing with here. “You,” he points to the wise ass cop, “you’re with Detective Beaty and Officer Klein and Costa. You go give a visit to our friends over in Russo’s ring. They’ve been laying low but they’ve got to screw up sometime. I’m sending the rest of you over to Kiley’s, just outside of Austin.”

There are more orders being shouted but Jared tunes out. He’s already wandering out of the room with a knot in his gut. When he’s not a rent-a-freak for the police department, Jared only deals with people who believe in his abilities. If he communicates with the dead it is usually because a loved one wants him to and usually the interactions are friendly. In an odd way, Jared is glad the four victims seem to be decent men who fell on hard times. It makes him want the help all the more and with the fear building in his gut he really needs all the encouragement he can get.

He’s about to engage in a staring match with the blood stain again when something catches his eyes. A figure sauntering in through the door like he owns the place startles Jared into taking a step backwards. It takes a second to realize the man standing in the foyer isn’t spectral but that still leaves Jared with the question as to who he is.

With a thud, the man drops a bag, heavy and intimidating by the sound it makes in the fall, to the ground. The noise draws Danners’ attention and the Lieutenant slides into his role, face looking like he means business and hands smoothing out the front of his uniform. “Jensen Ackles?” he questions as he reaches out a tentative hand.

“Yeah, that would be me.” Jensen confirms in a gruff voice, taking Danners’ hand and giving it a firm shake. He scans the place, eyes brushing over Jared and landing on the blood stain on the floor. “You guys getting the party started without me?”

Danners clears his throat and glares. “You’re late.”

“Traffic,” Jensen offers as his only excuse.

“Yes well, if you’re going to be working with us, learn to be on time.”

Jensen rolls his eyes but nods in spite of it. His eyes fall on the blood stain again, introductions completely forgotten as Jensen switches over towards being all business. His features light up, as if a new source of energy runs through him and he licks his lips. “On the phone…you told me there were four victims. Did they all look like that?” He bends down and tests the area around the blood. He makes a knowing hum and smirks.

“Yeah, all of them. All the blood swabs came back showing evidence of bone, blood, and organ. They all died the same way but in four different houses.” Danners watches Jensen curiously. “Why? You know what did this?

“Lieutenant Danners…Dan – can I call you Dan?” Jensen asks but doesn’t wait for a response. “You didn’t really call me out here to tell you a poltergeist did this, did you?”

“A…a…a polter-what?” Danners stumbles over his words and raises one eyebrow at the hunter.

“A poltergeist.” Jared clarifies, pushing closer to the conversation and crossing his arms over his chest. “And it’s angry.”

Jensen gives Jared a curious look while Danners still can’t believe what he is hearing. “You knew this?” Danners asks, nodding his head in Jared’s direction.

“Of course I knew,” Jared replies with a scoff.

“You didn’t say anything yesterday.”

“Would it have mattered if I did? Y’all don’t believe half the things I say anyway. Figured it didn’t matter what I called the damn thing.” Circling the blood spot, Jared tries to figure out who he is dealing with considering Jensen narrowed down the spirit’s classification to poltergeist in ten seconds flat. The man in front of him looks as guarded as Jared but in a different way. Whereas Jared comes off emotionally guarded, this man has something about his physical features that seems to intimidate people from getting too close. He catches Jared staring at him and turns the most brilliant set of green eyes on Jared that the man has ever seen. Jared’s eyes dart away in guilt and stare at the empty wall to Jensen’s left.

Jensen practically yanks Jared’s attention back towards him by stepping directly in the man’s line of vision. “And you are?”

“Jared Padalecki.”

“Jensen Ackles.” Jensen extends a hand. When Jared takes it and gives just as firm a handshake as Jensen, the hunter looks down at the leather gloved hand in his hold and narrows his eyes in question at Jared. “You’re a Seer.”

Jared rebuffs with, “You’re a hunter.”

The way both men say the words lets on to how much they respect each other’s lot in life, or rather, their disrespect.

There is a wall of static-like tension between them and things fall away.

Jared knows exactly what people like Jensen think about him. To Jensen, Jared is just another one of the freaks who is more supernatural creature than human. To most hunters, Jared isn’t anything more than a different classification of prey. The thing is, Jared hasn’t met another Seer in years. He wonders how many exist in the world and he isn’t referring to the shams that like to ride his coattails. A dark part of his mind ventures into thoughts of hunters actually killing Seers. Jared knows there are darker creatures out there, things in other forms than spectral who by people like Jensen specialize in hunting and he thinks it can’t be much more difficult to get rid of a Seer’s body than a vampires.

“Why is he here?” Jensen asks with a thumb jab towards Jared and a displeased scowl at Danners.

“He’s working on the case with us.”

“Not much work.” Jensen heads towards his bag and rips it open. “Listen, Dan-o. I can have this place cleaned up for you in less than an hour. If you get your people out of here, I’ll take care of your poltergeist problem 1-2-3.”

“We don’t want to get rid of the problem just yet.” Danners’ voice is calm and collected, like what he just said wasn’t insane.

“What?!” both Jared and Jensen balk. Jared’s shocked that they seemingly have something in common but he guesses that having a police Lieutenant who wants to play nice with a poltergeist is crazy enough to bring a Seer and hunter into agreement.

“Why the hell not?” Jensen demands; dropping a frightening looking shotgun back into the bag.

“We want Jared to try and communicate with it first. He’s done it before. If it is a poltergeist, then someone is able to manipulate it. Is that…god, that sounds crazy. Is that even possible?” Rubbing at his temples, Danners shakes his head in disbelief.

“It’s not possible. They’re manipulative…” Jensen beings.

Jared cuts him off. “It’s possible. I’ve never seen it done but…I think maybe it’s possible.”

“Bull shit.” Jensen derides. “Listen, kid. I’ve never seen it. They just don’t…they just don’t work like that.”

Jared’s anger has been boiling up but now it spills over. “First of all, you’re on my turf now so if you want to go all barbaric hunter, knock yourself out. See how far it gets you. Second, I’m not a kid, haven’t been for a long time.” _Not after the things I’ve seen_ goes unsaid and Jared curls his lip. “You want to hate me, go right ahead. But I’m working on this case and I’m perfectly fine without you. So…you can damn well leave if you want to.”

“No he can’t. Well…not because you say so.” Danners grabs Jared by the shoulder and yanks him away from Jensen, throwing his own body between them. “We’ve got four crime scenes, we’re short on officers, and I need you two to get off your high horses and figure it out. He,” Danners points to Jared and glares at Jensen, “is staying. You wanna walk out? Please, I won’t stop you. We’ve got a list of other hunters like you. The bunch of you aren’t exactly humble creatures. You’re the best, I get that. But there has to be second a best.”

Setting his jaw, Jensen makes a show of being displeased. He practically smolders with it. “Fine.”

“As I was saying,” Danners continues. “We want Jared to figure out who, a human who, is responsible for these murders. Then you get to kill it. We don’t know if there’s one or four of them but considering there are four identical crime scenes, we are going with the best base scenario is one poltergeist, worst case is four.”

For a moment, Jared and Jensen lock eyes. Jared never thought he’d word with a hunter, not in a million years. But there are widows and orphans and the pictures of four men wearing smiles hanging in the other room. Jared’s in this for the right reasons and he’s sure Jensen’s paycheck will keep him in it as well. They’re going to have to work together.

He doesn’t have to like that.

Growling, Jared throws his hands up in the air and stomps out the front door. He’ll come back. They all know that. Right now, however, Jared needs air. He needs to be away from a house that almost killed him and a hunter that probably wants to. Hunters are brutal and act on dumb instinct. They’re killers in every sense of the word and, while the electricity and life in Jensen’s veins surprised him, the man isn’t more than a bounty hunter.

He pulls out his cell phone and punches in Kelly’s number as he takes off down the sidewalk. It goes to voicemail but Jared knew it would; Kelly’s working. “Kel, I’m working with a hunter. Call me back and remind me why this is a bad idea. Or a good idea. Or why I still do this.”


	4. Power Surge

With Jared on his own personal time out, Danners puts Jared’s and Jensen’s jobs on hold.

Given that there is nothing to do by wait, Jensen takes the opportunity to escape. Very little set Jensen on edge but Jared seemed to be doing it for him. The man…the way he looked at Jensen, like he could look inside him…it left Jensen feeling too exposed for his liking. There were misconceptions about Seers, mostly that they could look at someone and see into their core, that Jensen held no belief in. But Jared…Jared made him doubt that. He knew that Seers usually required hands on contact with something to get any type of reading from it. Jared’s leather gloves solidified that fact.

Jensen needs to think. He is angry.

But so is Jared.

Jensen doesn’t have to be a Seer to see the anger radiating off the younger man.

Jumping in his Camaro, Jensen speeds towards the nearest auto shop. He has floor jacks in the trunk, amongst the weapons he’d designed himself, and an oil change that has been put off for too long. He needs to think and working on the car makes more sense than working with a Seer.

He’d never killed a Seer but he’d never respected one either. He knows he’d never actually kill one. They are human and they’re harmless. They’re also difficult to weed out. There are thousands of frauds or dramatic people and Jensen doesn’t have the patience to care about them.

He has bigger fish to fry.

And soon he’ll be frying them with a Seer.

Soon he’ll be frying them with a Seer on the state of Texas’s dime.

He’s half way through the oil change when his phone buzzes. It’s probably Danners but he’s not picking up. If Jared wants to initiate a power play, Jensen can exert his own form of power.

Most of Jensen’s life has been spent honing his skills, becoming the best at what he does. He’s not perfect and he’s victim to believing some prejudices, such as the one about Seers being weak. He assumes they must be. If they aren’t, why on earth would they waste their powers by sitting idly by? They’re useless. They can have chats with ghosts but what good are they if said ghosts don’t want to go to the great beyond? Useless.

Car maintenance done and engine purring like it should, Jensen wipes his hands on his jeans and slides into the car. He falls into the familiar groan of the leather seat and wishes he could shut off his brain and stay there for a while longer.

Changing the oil wasn’t difficult work but he’s feeling the strain of it. His body is too banged up from his last hunt and though the bruises are yellowing, they’re still deep and his shoulder isn’t back to its usual mobility. He chases a fistful of Ibuprofen with a long swig of whiskey from the almost empty flask he has tucked in the glove compartment.

It’s not enough.

He drains the bottle and tosses it to the side. He’s nowhere near buzzed but at least the whiskey seems to be taking the edge off. The car’s engine reminds him he can’t keep idling here and neither can his Camaro.

He’s looking forward to working on this case but he doesn’t play well with others and throwing a Seer into the mix is doing weird things to his enthusiasm. Parts of Jensen want to tell Danners he’s insane for using an unnatural being to catch an unnatural entity. It consumes his thoughts as he makes his way back to the house on autopilot, knowing right away that he’s on everyone’s shit list. Danners is outside the house, holding it up and tapping his foot so hard that he’s pounding a hole into the porch. There are a few other officers scattered about but their body language makes it clear that they’re packing up for the day.

Hauling himself out of the car, Jensen brushes past the glares. He stops when Jared practically plants himself in front of the Camaro, giving the car a once over before shooting Jensen a sideways glare.

“Reel it in _cowboy_. You missed all the action.” Jared gets in Jensen’s personal space like he has something to prove but isn’t sure how to go about it. He makes the briefest wrinkle of his nose and snorts. “You’re drunk.”

He feels like he shouldn’t even grace Jared with an answer but his defenses fly up and he cocks his head. “Not even close. Not that it’s any of _your_ business.” Skimming past the Seer, he climbs the steps towards the Lieutenant. “Did ghost whisperer over there have a good chat with the poltergeist?”

“Listen, Ackles,” Danners spits out as he pushes off the wall. “I don’t know how you usually operate, but around here, I call the shots. Got that?” He doesn’t wait for Jensen to reply before continuing. “You’re supposed to be the backup here. And you put the whole damn operation on hold while you were out doing god knows what. You’re damn lucky Padalecki couldn’t make any type of contact with the freaking thing or you would have _really_ been wasting our time.” He doesn’t look at Jensen when he takes a long stride away from the man and towards his car. “We’re meeting back here tomorrow morning and as soon as Jared gets some kind of info about what we’re dealing with, I promise you…you can kill the damn thing. But for now? Now you get to spend a whole lot of time waiting. Are we clear?”

“Clear.” Jensen replies, sliding a hand over his face and letting it linger there. He stands there, in the doorway of the rapidly emptying house for a long while. He watches everyone go and waits some more. The sun is sinking, and he realizes how long he must have been gone…how much time he must have lost.

The crime scene has been empty for a long while but Jensen keeps sitting by. He doesn’t mind waiting, he’s used to it. It’s a skill he’s honed that few people truly appreciate. He figures he’s spent most of his life laying in wait for something most people would run from.

When he’s certain everything is completely quiet, he returns back to his car and grabs his gear bag, the one he’d left in the house and some dumb ass officer threw on the hood of his Camaro. Within minutes, he’s got the bag slung over his shoulder and is fully aware that he is breaking into an active crime scene. The door is a joke. Someone locked it but that has never stopped Jensen before. He could pick the lock with his eyes closed, which he basically does because he keeps his eyes on the road to make sure he’s slipping into the house unnoticed.

Along with waiting, Jensen’s grown accustomed to working blind, or at least nearly blind. The house is dark but there is enough light filtering in from the windows to help him find his way towards the blood stain. This is the part he hadn’t exactly figured out yet. Most of the time, he’s called to kill a poltergeist by someone who is being plagued by one. In this case, he isn’t exactly sure how to coax the thing out. He supposes it involve a whole lot more waiting.

Dropping his bag on the foot of the stairs, Jensen takes a seat beside it. He gets as comfortable as he’s ever going to get and hunkers down for the long haul.

He’s waited in the face of far scarier things.

***************

Jared knows he’s an idiot.

He knows this is probably the stupidest thing he’s done in a long while. That fact hits him hard because he prides himself on being levelheaded and logical.

There is a feeling burrowing into his gut that he can’t shake. He couldn’t figure out how to spark the poltergeist to life, which didn’t sit well with him. That type of stuff just doesn’t happen to Jared. He doesn’t go in for some type of connection and come out empty handed. He wishes that did happen, actually. He wishes he could do something normal and come out of it without any lingering side effects. Now, however, is the one time he wishes something had happened. He is an empathetic person by nature and design and now he can’t get the four victims out of his head.

So even though he’s afraid of the thing he’s trying to contact, Jared finds himself standing in front of the Rendon household.

Alarm bells go off in his head that he shouldn’t be facing something so strong on his own. They’re ringing so loudly that he almost misses the fact that Jensen’s car is exactly where he’d last seen it. He doesn’t think more than two seconds as to what that means. “Stupid idiot.”

Now that he knows he’s not alone, the back of his mind feels relieved, although new nerves bubble up over being alone with a hunter. He doesn’t focus on being as stealthy anymore and Jensen’s done all the hard work already because when he touches the door knob, it turns easily in his hands.

He doesn’t have one foot in the doorway before his whole body is being pulled inside and swung to the left of the door. He hits the wall hard, air being forced out of his lungs and a cold muzzle of a rifle catching on the underside of his chin. His head is spinning with what just happened. Adrenaline makes his heart race but he’s quick to react.

Jared grabs the gun, which is almost a stupid move but he pulls it off. He twists the rifle away from him and spins himself, kneeing his attacker in the middle. Hours of too much alone time paying off because Jared ends up wanting to pat himself on the back for forcing himself to stick to such a structured work out and defense regimen.

The celebration is short lived because he finds himself being thrown to the ground, tumbling across the floor in a sightless battle for control. It proves fruitless because the fight couldn’t settle on one winner for too long. In the end, a rough collision with the corner of the room lands Jared on his back, and his attacker straddling his waist.

In a sense, Jared has the upper hand here because he knew it was Jensen who is pinning him down and shoving something cold and deadly against his neck.

He supposes Jensen has figured it out by now but the man doesn’t let up.

“If you kill me, I’m pretty sure the entire police force will know,” Jared lets out, a tremor slipping into his words as he tries to keep them steady.

“Not sure if most of them care aside from the obvious disregard for the law.” Jensen shoves the blade enough so that it presses into the flesh of Jared’s throat.

Thinking for a moment, Jared reverses the direction they’d been tossing across the floor and landing himself on top of Jensen, his thighs squeezing against Jensen’s hips and locking him in place. “Funny, I’m pretty sure no one would really care much about you either.

Jensen struggles under Jared’s weight, letting out a frustrated sigh as he tries to figure out a way out of the situation.

Jared dugs the heel of his right palm into Jensen’s shoulder when the man tries to buck upwards and he is rewarded by an expression full of gritted teeth and a pained hiss.

A loud snort in an attempt to cover up the pain leaves Jensen’s mouth and he licks his lips. “You’re awfully violent for a Seer.”

The comment takes Jared by surprise. He’s aware of the stereotypes about people like him. A lot of people think Seers are some type of pacifist being. They are all brains and no brawn. It’s not true, not really. Jared prefers his way of doing things but he’s been a Seer his whole life. Being different makes you a target and being a target means you better learn to protect your own back.

For Jensen’s comment, Jared digs his palm into his shoulder all the more, the leather of his glove making the slide easy. As soon as he does it, he lets up and pulls off the hunter. He gets to his feet. “You shouldn’t be here.”

“Neither should you,” Jensen says as he gets to his feet. He rolls his shoulders a few times, twisting his neck until it cracks and he shakes his whole body out.

“You’d like it if I wasn’t here, wouldn’t you.” Jared tugs at his shirt and brushes himself off. The phantom feeling of Jensen’s blade against his neck makes Jared rub his hand over it in search for an actual wound. His fingertips come up empty. Studying Jensen, he licks his lips. The man is a mystery to him but he’s got to give him credit. He’s good at his job. Jared’s been in a lot of fights. Jensen is the first person in a long time to give him a run for his money.

“I don’t…” Jensen begins but shakes his head and walks to retrieve the rifle he lost in their scuffle.

“You don’t what?”

Jensen looks like he wants to answer but he simply shakes his head again. “You shouldn’t be here, Jared.”

“And you shouldn’t either; we’ve established that.” Scratching at the back of his neck, Jared stands his ground. “But I’m here now and I’m not going anywhere. So we can either do this together or we can both leave.”

There is silence between them, a brief standoff as they glare at each other and pace in mirrored semicircles. “I don’t want to see you dead, Jared. I don’t kill innocent things, regardless of how much I disagree with their lifestyle.”

Raising an eyebrow, Jared scowled. “Is that how you see me? As an ‘innocent thing’?” Jared had seen too much, touched the core of so much hurt and death that it had been a long time since he’d felt innocent. It becomes clear that Jensen wasn’t going to answer him. “It’s not a lifestyle. It’s something I was born with. I didn’t choose it…I wouldn’t…if I could…” He immediately wishes he could swallow the words he’d just tripped over in an attempt to get them out. They mean more to Jared than he thinks Jensen is capable of realizing. “Hunting… _that’s_ a lifestyle.”

A sound of offence leaves Jensen. “ _Hunting_? You don’t know what you’re talking about. It’s more than just a lifestyle. It’s a way of being. It’s the only damn thing I’ve known since…well…since I figured out people _needed_ me and I’ve never been as good at anything as I am at this. It’s not like I have a choice about it anymore. Too many things have a bounty on my head and I’d rather have their heads before they have mine.” Jensen narrows his eyes. “It’s not a lifestyle. It’s survival.” He turnshis back on Jared and stays that way.

Jared isn’t sure why he’s the one left feeling guilty considering Jensen’s given his fair share of verbal punches. “Listen…I’ve never worked with a hunter before. I don’t agree with half the things you do…the violence…You’re…You’re brash and impulsive and you – ”

“Fuck you.” Spinning on his heels, Jensen shakes his head. “You’ll never understand. You’ll just stand by and let _things_ hurt more people.”

Jared growls in frustration. He wants to hit Jensen. He wants to punch that smug little grin off his face. Words clog up on his tongue and all he can get out is, “You!” He growls under his breath and throws up his hands in defeat. “I was going to say that I’ve never worked with a hunter – I’ve never worked with anyone – but if we both want the same thing, then maybe this can work. I guess I was wrong about that!”

**************

Jensen has never been so frustrated in his life. Usually, when something gets under his skin this much, he can just kill it.

Now, however, that isn’t an option.

He watches Jared fuming and is impressed by the heat he’s encountered in the Seer. Jared’s practically a live wire, nothing like the limp noodle he’d expected him to be.

He’s full of anger and that makes Jensen appreciate the danger lurking underneath.

Jared’s original suggestion hits him and he feels like an asshole for putting his foot in his mouth and letting abrasive words get in the way of actually getting work done.

If he can’t get rid of the poltergeist before Jared gets information out of it, then he needs the Seer playing on his team.

Attempts to make amends dissolve when a loud thump rattles the house. It’s coming from upstairs and both men’s heads whip towards it.

Their argument is put on hold and they both give each other a knowing look. They don’t need words to communicate what that noise means.

Jensen whirls around silently, turning towards the stairs. He sees Jared drop to his knees near the blood stain. His gloves, both of them, are off and he has both palms pressed to the wood.

It sends a shiver down Jensen’s spine when he watches Jared go rigid, and give a wide eyed blind stare. Everything about the situation screams for him to do something. The Seer’s body is riddled with fear and pain, even Jensen can tell that from the base of the stairs. It starts a chain reaction in Jensen’s muscles and he has to yank it back before he tries to break whatever connection Jared’s just made.

Something is happening on another plain of existence, a plain where Jensen can’t visit or offer his skills.

He wants to, however. He wants to break Jared out of his stance and blast the poltergeist back to where it came from.

There is another thump across the floor on the upper level of the house and Jensen leaves Jared to his business. He takes off up the stairs, climbing two at a time. He moves without thinking, which proves to be a mistake when an invisible force slams into his chest and sends him barreling down the stairs. He’s used to falling and knows how to do so without the most damage but it still disorients him enough that the spiritual force gets in another blow. Jensen stumbles and opens his eyes enough to see a glowing orange humanoid shape approaching him. Pain blossoms across his cheek as his head whips to the side so quickly that he can’t see straight. Practiced strings of words, older than most books Jensen has ever seen, are out of the hunter’s mouth before he realizes they were a reflex.

They hit the poltergeist and do their word, sending it out of the house for the time being. He’s sure Jared’s going to be pissed about that, but he’d had enough of being someone’s punching bag for the time being.

Only, something is wrong.

Jared’s still lost in a trance and he’s not sure what has a hold of the Seer. The poltergeist has been sent on a timeout, far enough away from any Seer’s abilities. Yet Jared is frozen.

Reaching out a hand to shake the older man, Jensen ends up on his knees, writhing in pain. Something grabbed his arm and twisted it back so far that he swears it is a fraction away from being broken.

He tries to fight against it but the force has him in some type of hold he can’t explain. He’s not caught around an appendage or his neck but he feels stuck, like the thing has a hold of something inside of him, all its power hooked into Jensen’s core and dragging him to his feet and throwing him against the far wall. He hits into it with a loud crash, sliding to the ground in a crumpled heap. The poltergeist has its claws inside of him again, curling around his heart and lungs and suffocating everything inside of him designed to represent life.

Panic takes hold of the hunter. He feels like he is being dragged down an endless darkening tunnel. It gets harder to concentrate on breathing and staying alive; everything goes in and out of focus. He scrabbles at the invisible force destroying him, pulling at the air around his neck. It’s impossible to get words out, everything is being crushed and he watches the force, glowing bluish, wash over him. It chills him to the bone and makes him want to scream.

And then it stops. Jensen’s body is freed from its hold and he collapses, hands scrambling to catch himself and lungs working overdrive to make up for time spent not breathing. His eyes are watering up from choking but he can see enough to make out Jared standing with a sideways stance. The Seer is holding out an open palm towards Jensen and his chest is heaving with exhaustion. Jensen thinks he looks almost feral; combining that fact with what Jared just did and he’s lethal.

“There….there’s two,” Jared gets out before his eyes roll back in his skull and he falls to the ground like a lead weight.

Jensen drags himself towards Jared’s body and tilts his head upwards. The man is breathing but it’s erratic and unnatural. “Christ…” He’s pretty sure Jared just killed a poltergeist with nothing but sheer willpower and determination. He’s never seen anything like that before and is almost certain no one has. It’s pretty damn impressive and Jensen wonders exactly how powerful Jared is. There is no way he can leave the Seer this way, not after what he’s just done. Jensen’s not too proud to admit when something had him licked and his time was almost up…it would have been game over if Jared hadn’t done what he did.

Without the poltergeist’s hold on him, Jensen recovers quickly. He hurts, he hurts inside where he is sure people don’t know you can bruise. His soul feels banged up but his legs still work and that’s good enough for now.

Jensen pulls Jared onto his lap and figures out a way to get a hold on him. The man is definitely taller than Jensen and heavy with muscle weight. He’ll be difficult to carry on a good day, but adrenaline and grit allows Jensen to hoist Jared into his arms in an awkward firemen’s carry. Jared’s head lolls back; neck exposed and chin pointing up towards the ceiling. He is limp and too much like carrying dead weight for Jensen’s liking.

“You’re not fucking dying on me, Padalecki.” Jensen pauses to make sure the man is still breathing, only making a move to get out of the house once he feels a shallow breath against his cheek.

It is slow going but once he has the passed out Seer in his car and gathers up all his gear, Jensen gets into the car himself.

He has a poltergeist on his shit list and a passed out Seer on his hands.

What the hell is he supposed to do with that?

****************

Jared jolts upright, so suddenly and brutally thrown into consciousness, that he is left dizzy and unsure of his whereabouts. His chest heaves with each rapid breath his parted lips pull in. Eyes darting nervously around, he feels his lungs start to hyperventilate.

He has no idea where he is.

His heart hammers in his chest, and the sheer muscle movement hurts. He’s awake enough to be hit with a burning pain in his skull, an intense throbbing behind the bone of his forehead. Waves of panic and uneasiness course through his system.

“Easy,” Jensen’s voice comes from so close that Jared almost falls off the couch he’s lying on.

Jensen puts up two palms and bounces them downward in a calming motion. “Easy, you’re okay.”

With a wild look, Jared skitters backwards on the couch, practically crawling up the arm rest and retreating like a frightened animal. He blinks several times at Jensen before he realizes who it is that he’s staring at. The man is sitting on the other side of the couch, eyes curious and concerned. The recognition seems to calm Jared enough and he falls back onto the couch, the sudden exertion seemingly zapping his strength again. Drawing his hand over his face, Jared covers his eyes and tries to even out his breathing. “Where am I?”

“My hotel room,” Jensen offers. “You passed out back at the house and I figured making sure you weren’t dead was the least I could do.” He snorts like the ordeal they’ve been through was nothing out of the ordinary. And perhaps, there is truth to that.

“I…what…” Jared rubs at his temples in confusion. “Oh shit, what did we do? How did you get me back here?” Panic rises in him again and he tries to get the lowdown on the room. It’s simple but looks like it hasn’t been updated in a while. Old things make Jared nervous, it’s a reflex in his gut, and he tenses.

“I carried you.” Jensen shrugs and takes a swig from the flask he’s been holding since Jared could focus on him. “You’re not light, you know.”

Pulling back with shock, Jared asks, “You carried me?”

Jensen answers with a nod. “Well you weren’t exactly firing on all cylinders. Don’t worry; I won’t hold it against you.”

Jared blinks and looks down at his hands. His gloves are missing. Not only that, but his clothing is rugged up and too much of his skin is on display. If Jensen carried him, chances are they’ve had extended periods of skin on skin contact, but, none of the lingering effects are presenting themselves. He’s not tuned into Jensen’s memories or feeling any of Jensen’s scars. Even without being a Seer, Jared can tell there are some pretty deep scars running along the curves of Jensen’s life. “You carried me?” He repeats in disbelief. “I mean…you touched me and…” He looks at his hands again. “I don’t feel you.” As exhausted as he is, Jared’s alive with curiosity. His eyes go wide and he leans closer to Jensen. “You…” Without thinking, his hands are on Jensen, touching at the area near his collar bone where his shirt must have torn in the poltergeist attack. It’s pulled open into a torn V and the smooth stretch of muscle makes him gasp when he makes contact. His hands meet the heated flesh and there is nothing but warmth and the subtle feeling of the man’s lungs working beneath all of it. “I can’t _feel_ you.” A wash of emotions spread across Jared’s face. The whole thing is mind boggling; confusion and delight paint his features. His lips twitch up at the sides and he presses his hand to Jensen again. “Why can’t I _feel_ you?” That’s never happened to Jared before. For as long as he can remember, skin on skin connections have always come with someone else’s memories.

Jensen snatches Jared’s wrist in his hand and pulls him away, eyes full of defensiveness after the Seer stormed into his personal space.

Jared looks down at Jensen’s hand around his wrist the same way he did when his hand connected with Jensen’s chest. He licks his lips and takes a shaky breath. “Why can’t I feel you or…or…or see your thoughts.”

Jensen gives an amused humph and drops Jared’s wrist. “You come out of hours of unconsciousness and that’s the first thing you wonder about?”

For the first time in their short time of knowing each other, Jared watches Jensen smile. “I…well…I’ve never been able to touch anyone without _feeling_ them. You know? Without seeing the inside parts of them. How come you’re the first one I can’t feel?”

“I’m guarded,” Jensen offers casually, “by pretty much everything and against everything.” In a jerky movement, riddled with hisses of discomfort, Jensen shucks off his shirt. He twists enough so Jared can see a medley of tattoos running across the span of his shoulder blades and curling down his back along with his muscles. Almost all the tattoos are black or in shades of gray. Some of them look angry and raised, like they’re composed of such deep marks that the tissue underneath is scarred and made stronger. Jared can place some of them and their meanings but others look ancient. Jared’s never seen them. He reaches out to touch them again, drunk on the fact that he actually _can_ touch them.

“Whoa.” Jensen pulls back and gets his shirt back on.

“Sorry…I…” Jared pulls his hand back and looks down at it like it just betrayed him. “Oh my god. I’m sorry. I’m sorry. I should go.” He struggles to get his legs unfolded and looks vaguely like a baby giraffe as he stumbles and falls over, landing on his ass on the floor in front of the couch. He feels embarrassed and dizzy at the same time and blushes, burying his face in his hands. “Okay, so being vertical isn’t working for me at this current moment.”

Jensen watches Jared with amusement before passing the flask his way. “Relax, Tangina. You get your sea legs back for a bit, alright?”

Jared eyes the flask before making a rapid grabbing movement and ripping it out of Jensen’s offering hand. He takes a long swig, cracking open an eye so as to catch Jensen’s curious expression. “What? You’re not the only one who needs to find ways to escape.” Taking another swig, Jared shrugs. He supposes he was being hypocritical back at the crime scene and is thankful Jensen wasn’t around to see him make a drunken fool of himself three days ago. “I’m sorry I had a gripe out it before.” Jared hands the flask back and tries to pull himself back onto the couch. His legs give out and he falls to the ground again. Everything in his body hurts.

“I’m not kicking you out after saving my ass.” Jensen eyes him with a raised eyebrow. “Doing what you did really zapped you, huh?”

Memory foggy, “What…what exactly did I do?” Jared asks.

Jensen clears his throat and drops his tone, eyes darting away insecurely before fixing on Jared again. “You saved me from one of those things. You got rid of it with…well, I don’t exactly know how you got rid of it. But then you collapsed. I’ve never seen anything like it.”

“Oh god, there’s two of them.” The night’s events flooded the forefront of Jared’s brain. He remembers seeing Jensen struggling on the ground. He remembers channeling all the energy he had in his body and directing it with needle sharp precision towards the core of the poltergeist. He remembers the pain that ran through his body as he fell apart in time with the poltergeist. “There _was_ two of them. I…I killed one of them.”

“How?”

“I…I just did. I’ve done it before…Just…not like that. Not so suddenly.”

Jensen lets out an impressed whistle. “I may have underestimated you Jared Padalecki.”

The admittance has Jared wondering if he is still unconscious. The man in front of him is surely not the person he met with the chip on his shoulder and a fortress guarding his actual personality. Jared’s eyes catch the neon glare of the digital clock in the corner of the room and he panics. “Shit. It’s after midnight.”

“Yeah.” Jensen shrugs. “Your phone was going off like crazy while you were out. I would’ve ignored it but it kept happening and I saw it was some chick named Kelly. I thought maybe it was your girlfriend or something so I picked it up.”

“You,” Jared swallows in slow motion, “picked up my phone?”

“Yeah.”

“And said what…exactly?”

“I told her you were okay.” Jensen smirks. “Did you go and tell her all about me or something because she asked me if I was the hunter you were working with.”

Jared blushes and licks his lips. Since leaving her a voicemail, he hadn’t talked to Kelly at all, since the woman hadn’t called him back until he was too passed out to answer her call. With the addition of Jensen thinking Kelly is his girlfriend, Jared wants to bury his head in the sand and not come up for air till the man forgets about it. Something, however, tells Jared that Jensen isn’t the type to forget anything.

With the smile still on his face, Jensen continues. “So, I found out she _isn’t_ your girlfriend. She said I sounded like your type. She threatened me, said I better be taking care of you.”

“Oh my god….” Jared covers his face with a hand. No matter how large his hands are, there isn’t anything that can hide his embarrassment.

“Relax, _cowboy_ ,” Jensen says, purposely emphasizing the nickname Jared had used against him hours earlier. “We play for the same team.” The words leave his mouth with a smooth confidence that sparks a hint of envy in Jared. Turning towards the small table in the room, Jensen grabs a takeout box. “Pizza?”

Before the premise of food, Jared hadn’t felt hungry. Now, his stomach gives a loud growl and answers Jensen’s questions on its own. He reaches out a hand to take the offered food but wrinkles his nose in distaste. “Domino’s?”

“Yeah, you gotta problem with that?”

“Umm..it’s just…well…it’s Domino’s.” Jared shrugs. He hasn’t had Domino’s pizza in years for lots of reasons, one of them being his preference for home style pizza.

“Hey, don’t knock it. It’s…” Jensen drops the box in front of Jared and pulls out a slice for himself. He takes a large bite and speaks while chewing. “I’m never in one place for more than a little while. But Domino’s? There’s a Domino’s almost anywhere I go. Their pizzas all taste the same, no matter where I am. It’s like the only type of home I can hold onto.” He shrugs and takes another bite.

Five seconds ago, Jared wouldn’t have been able to picture Domino’s meaning anything more than a cheap meal. Now, he’s shocked by Jensen’s insight. “I think…maybe I underestimated you too, Jensen Ackles.” He grabs a piece of pizza like it’s a peace offering and nibbles on it. It’s not bad. Actually, it’s good. He hums to let Jensen know he appreciates it.

“Good, right?” Jensen asks. They sit there together, eating in the awkwardness of whatever new start they are giving to their working relationship.

If it wasn’t for the silence, Jared wouldn’t have heard the mumbled “thank you” Jensen gave him.

“You’re welcome.” Jared pauses, not wanting to push away whatever progress they are making in understanding each other. “But we’re going to pretend it didn’t happen. Okay? Danners doesn’t know there was more than one of them and I don’t think he needs to know we broke into the crime scene against his orders.”

Jared’s suggestion gets a surprised hum out of Jensen along with a nod in agreement. “So you _do_ know how to break the rules, huh?”

Without missing a beat, Jared chimes in with, “you wouldn’t be sitting here if I didn’t.”

For the first time in his life Jared is faced with a person he knows nothing about who is immune to his power.

It’s terrifying.

It’s unfamiliar

It’s electrifying.


	5. Clash

Rolling towards the buzzing sound groping blindly, Jensen’s hand flounders for his cell phone. It’s somewhere close to his head because he can hear it vibrating against…against the floor? The sound coming from the phone is too solid to be a result of the phone vibrating against the mattress’ softness. Jensen groans and stretches his Lat muscles, reaching his arm up over his head and trying to silence the buzzing.

He grimaces as he opens his eyes and comes face to face with a table leg.

It takes several more waking moments for Jensen to realize he’s lying on his hotel room’s floor.

The carpet leaves little room for comfort and his body bears the evidence of that. His muscles are stiff on top of the soreness he’d built up from the previous night.

Truthfully, he doesn’t remember falling asleep, let alone feeling like passing out on the floor.

He’s surprised that he let himself fall asleep in such a vulnerable position. He doesn’t remember the last time that had actually happened. A full belly, even though it consisted of only pizza, and the alcohol probably eased the way for Jensen but the fact that he stayed asleep till his phone’s alarm went off at nine o’clock was all due to Jensen’s defenses being down.

He rolls onto his back and stretches both arms up to their full extent, giving a satisfied yawn in the process. Last night comes back to him in dribs and drabs until he remembers everything and turns his head towards the couch.

Jared is still sprawled out across it. He’s got one arm draped over his eyes and the other dangling off the edge, fingertips ghosting across the carpet.

He looks peaceful without the weight of being a Seer in the wakeful world.

It seems, after last night, Jensen had misjudged Seers. He’d never been in close contact with one and he’d had nothing to go by but a hunter’s prejudice that Seer’s were part inhuman and therefore on their hunting list. And while the power Jared invoked to save Jensen was still wildly inhuman, it had still served to keep Jensen alive.

There were some things and instances that were deemed an exception to the hunter’s classification of human and inhuman. Jared had saved Jensen at the cost of his own health. That feat is entirely human.

Jared didn’t completely understand what he had done or how but whatever it was seemed to wreak havoc on the Seers body.

Last night Jared almost passed out again when he tried to stand to go to the bathroom.

Jensen had caught him, shouldering most of Jared’s weight and hooking an arm around the man’s waist. His fingers had curved up under the hem of Jared’s shirt and met with defined muscle, the contact eliciting a sound of shock from both of them. It was stupid, but Jensen hadn’t expected the muscle, even after Jared practically bested him in a fight. And Jared? Jared didn’t seem to know what to do with the physical contact. He’d froze, eyes widening and throat bobbing as he swallowed thickly.

Jensen chose to ignore it. Based on Jared’s previous actions, Jensen figured out that the Seer had never actually touched another being, or thing for that matter, without feeding off of secondary feelings. Jensen had never put all of his tattoos intentions to the test but he figured they were worth the pain and money when every part of him was shielded from Jared. In the beginning, it is why he let Jared’s hand explore him in the first place. He was just as curious to see the outcome as Jared was. Then, Jared didn’t let up. It was odd for Jensen to see Jared so childlike and awestruck after he’d been so defensive in an attempt to prove himself.

It had been years since someone was able to look at Jensen’s body like that, to touch it, and give him such a look of genuine wonderment.

Jensen would be lying if he said he didn’t miss that.

The two of them, however, were like cats and dogs and Jensen ate kittens like Jared for dinner.

Still, he could play nice for now, back down so he could take care of Jared and make sure he wasn’t left with guilt of destroying Jared to the point where the man practically clung exhaustedly to him. Jensen didn’t accept favors from people without being able to pay for them. That wasn’t a rule, it was good business.

The night was awkward but Jared was in no shape to move and they spent hours of his in and out consciousness figuring out that they had more in common than they’d thought.

They both lived on the outskirts of normal human socialization despite spending most of their time trying to benefit human civilization.

They both believed each other when they traded names from the rolodex of baddies, also known as the neutral term “forces” that Jared preferred.

And then they fell asleep.

Somewhere between talking about broken bones they fell asleep and stayed that way until now.

Now Jensen is faced with waking up a man he barely knows who had crashed on his couch. Despite the circumstances, it feels awkward.

He crawls forward and shakes Jared’s shoulder. “Jared.” The Seer groans and tries to lose himself to the darkness the arm still covering his eyes provides. Groaning, Jensen shakes harder and pushes up onto his knees. “Jared, come on man. You gotta wake up.”

Like Jensen had seen him do hours earlier, Jared crashes into wakefulness and falls off the couch, landing with a thud into Jensen’s lap.

All Jensen can do is catch the Seer, steadying him until Jared’s weight is settled against Jensen’s chest.

“Jensen?” Jared blinks hazel eyes at him, looking flustered, exhilarated and angry at the same time. In trying to get his bearings, he squirms absently.

The connection between them is…weird. It feels wrong in so many ways but it is real and invigorating because their two worlds come with a clash of differences but compulsion of opposite magnetic fields.

Despite everything, Jensen is alive. He’s human.

He’d have to be dead to feel nothing at having an attractive man on his lap.

Which is exactly why he coughs awkwardly and slides Jared off onto the floor.

Clearing his throat, Jensen gets to his feet and coughs again. He looks at the clock. “Shit. Danners wanted us at the house by ten, right?”

“Umm, uhh…” Jared licks his lips and focuses his eyes. “Yeah. Ten. Why?”

“Because, that’s in 45 minutes. I’m going to catch a shower.” He doesn’t stick around to hear Jared’s response. He scratches at the back of his head and strides towards the bathroom, taking his frustration out on the door and slamming it behind him.

He’s in the shower before waiting for the hot water to kick in.

It’s probably for the best because a cold shower might do well in dousing whatever fire Jared’s setting up inside him.

*************

Jared walks into the house and does his best to pretend that he and Jensen didn’t break in last night. It’s not all that hard. He’s still exhausted and he knows he pushed himself too hard last night. The pounding headache that splits him straight down the middle, the one that is always there after he works his powers too hard, is omnipresent and it’s hard to see straight. He has on a dark pair of sunglasses but they’re doing a shitty job of hiding the fact that Jared is drained.

He filters into the house ahead of Jensen, shoulder brushing up against his in a clumsy movement. It’s not done on purpose and has no physical effect on Jared but it does serve to remind him of the connection they inadvertently share. His mind reels from the fact that he actually made skin on skin contact with someone and didn’t go on a roller coaster ride through the person’s life. It sends a rush of warmth through his body but he bottles it up and pushes it down, trying to look like nothing is out of the ordinary.

“Well, well, well. Look who finally decided to show up.” Danners makes a show of looking at his watch and raising his eyebrows in mock surprise. “Only a whole thirty minutes late.”

Jared snorts and glares at the man from over his sunglasses.

While Danners turns to breathe heat down Jensen’s neck, Jared spots his leather gloves, left discarded after his attempt to communicate with the poltergeist last night. He scoops them up and slips them on before someone notices his mistake. For the first time in years they feel like a prison rather than a safety net. He faces Danners and Jensen again, arms crossed over his chest. Jensen looks just as avoidant as Jared is trying to be. He’s got a casual smirk on his face and folds his arms to match Jared’s body language.

“You know, I’m paying you to _actually_ work with us. I’ve heard that may be hard for you, considering you’re usually a one man operation, but it’s the terms you accepted,” Danners voice gives way to the fact that he is not in the mood to mess around.

“Yeah well, had to pick him up,” Jensen says as he jerks a thumb towards Jared. “Got lost.”

It’s a blatant lie but only Jared knows that. He’ll go along with it considering actually telling the truth will earn them more flack. He figures the best thing to do is to get straight to work. Without looking, he feels eyes on him and he knows people are waiting for him to work his magic. Some of them call it “voodoo hoodoo shit” which pisses him off but Jared’s wasted enough breath correcting them.

Jared makes a show of peeling off the gloves he’d only just put on. He goes to the blood stained wood and swears it is even darker than it was yesterday. The thought of something decaying further unnerves him but he still follows through with placing his palms flush against it.

Initially, there is nothing.

He knows he’s speaking but no one in the room can hear him. He’s probably not even moving his mouth, although that has happened on occasion. His brain is searching for some connection and what hits him isn’t the poltergeist.

Nothing physically has happened to him but, crouching on the ground, the wind is knocked out of him. He gasps and his eyes go wide but he’s not seeing clearly. He’s seeing something and his brain struggles to keep up with what’s happening.

The world around him isn’t the same as it was when he and Jensen walked into the room. It’s too dark to be morning the people fade away for the time being, covered up with a scene that screams of past events. A shock of panic hits Jared and he wonders why this hadn’t happened earlier.

“Help me.” The voice has too much reverb to sound human but the pain behind the words transcends state of being.

Jared’s head whips towards the voice. He sees a fuzzy version of a man but Jared’s memory helps him place a name and a clearer picture of the thing’s face. It’s Mr. Rendon, the fourth victim, the one who died in this house.

Things become surreal. Mr. Rendon’s actions become jerky, speeding up and slowing down at various intervals, making him look twitchy and terrifying. Jared wants to run away but he’s stuck. Vaguely he thinks that he doesn’t even know this man’s name. He only knows he’s got a widow and a newborn out in the world somewhere. It’s strange being the only person able to see a man he knows nothing about.

He knows, however, he’s about to learn a lot more.

A weird scene plays out in front of Jared. He watches Mr. Rendon bend his joints in unnatural ways and then hears him call for help again. His spectral body flies against the wall, much in the same manner as Jensen’s did the night prior. Jared is frozen, fated to watch a predetermined scene that he is helpless to prevent. The never ending tension of that fact destroys parts of Jared but he reminds himself that understanding what happened is a form of doing something. He isn’t just standing by and watching helplessly. Still, he sometimes gets caught up in the scene and tries to extend his powers towards whatever is attacking the victim.

This time, Jared tries to slam his mind into the poltergeist before he remembers that it’s futile. The vision he’s seeing happened days ago. It’s a simple replay of a man’s murder only Jared’s sure Mr. Rendon didn’t die exactly that way. The dying man keeps locking eyes directly with Jared and speaking to him. There is no way that could have happened. Mr. Rendon is altering the scene, boring his dying eyes into Jared and making him feel like ants are crawling through his veins and clogging up his heart.

The poltergeist is the one that Jared killed yesterday. He knows that immediately because of the chill that ices his blood and makes his heart seize up.

“Help me! Jacobs….help…”

Then it’s over. Jared watches Mr. Rendon’s head snap and watches blood, far too much blood to be real, pool out around the body and engulf it. The blood creeps towards Jared and soaks his palms, climbing over his knuckles and inching up the length of his wrist.

Jared finds the power to break the connection.

Back in the real world, one that isn’t much safer than his vision, he stumbles forward on his hands and knees, almost slamming face down into the bloodied floorboards. Coughing several times, he remembers how to breathe again.

Again, he feels eyes on him but no one offers to help. He knows they’re afraid that whatever curse Jared carries with him will rub off on them and eat them alive. Instead, he stays on his hands and knees, staring at the floor and breathing for a minute. It’s a terrible idea but he pushes to his feet and wobbles. “They’re not here anymore.”

“They?” Danners asks.

Shit. Jared corrects himself, fumbling for words that hide the fact there were once two poltergeists. “It. It’s not here anymore. I watched it go.” Jared rubs at his temples before letting out a long shaking breath. Pinching the bridge of his nose, he tries to focus on Danners. “They’re…it….it’s not here. It’s gone. But I got a name. Jacobs. I – ” Jared stumbles and knows he can’t come back from that misstep. His limbs are done following his orders and he falls.

Jensen curses and swoops in, catching Jared before his head hits the ground and swinging him upright again. It’s an awkward hold, but Jensen keeps Jared on his feet, hooking and arm behind his back and under the man’s shoulders. “Jared?”

Jared’s head lolls. He says something unintelligible and tries to keep himself from falling apart and making a bigger spectacle of himself.

Jensen hesitates for a minute, swearing under his breath again. He turns the both of them towards the door.

“Where the hell do you think you’re going?” Danners shouts.

“We’re done here.”

“Like hell you are.” Danners cuts them off. “We’ve got an active investigation going on and we need him – ”

“No! We’re done here!” Jensen’s eyes dare anyone to disagree with him. He shoulders more of Jared’s weight. “I’m taking him home. You call me if you find out who this Jacobs person is.” They shuffle towards the door. Before reaching it, Jensen turns around and snarls. “If you had just let me kill it when we had the chance, this wouldn’t be happening. Now you have more blood on your hands. That’s _all_ you,” he shoots at Danners and practically growls through clenched teeth.

This time, no one gets in their way as they leave.

Jensen manages to get Jared in the car and he falls back against the seat, a heap of useless bones and muscle.

The drive is silent, Jared’s head rolling towards the window.

“Pushed yourself too hard.” Jensen states, hands white knuckling the steering wheel. “Where am I actually going?”

“Always push myself too hard. Make a left.” Jared sighs and feels parts of himself shifting back into place.

“Yeah, me too.” Jensen’s voice is whisper quiet, like he didn’t mean for those words to slip out.

They fall silent again before Jared point’s towards his street. “Turn right.” He lets his head loll to the left and watches Jensen. The hunter’s features are tense and he keeps working his lips like he wants to say something but decides against it at the last moment.

Absently, Jared runs his ungloved hand over the dashboard. It’s a weird move, since he usually avoids all things as old as this car but he does it. When Jensen drove him towards the crime scene, he’d touched little more than the seatbelt, which proved harmless. Now, his brain is flooded with memories that don’t belong to him. Oddly enough, they’re all happy. There are tinges of loss somewhere muddled in between but the moments actually involving the car are happy. It seems like a complete contradiction considering the type of life Jensen lives. This car was – is – loved.

Jared’s too weak to focus on pinpointing a specific memory so he makes a blanket statement. “This was your brother’s car.”

Jensen’s so startled that he slams on the breaks, stopping the car a good mile away from Jared’s apartment. “What?”

“This car. It was your brothers, right?” Jared trails his fingers over the curve of the control panel, fingers catching on knobs and he gets enough flashes and feelings to know that he’s right.

“Don’t mess with my head. My memories. My stuff.” Jensen turns the same snarl he used on Danners towards Jared.

“It’s just…he loved this car. Your brother.” Jared pushes both palms to the dashboard but before anything happens, Jensen slaps them away.

“You don’t know me! Or them! Don’t use your freaky witch shit on me.”

“It’s not – ” Jared attempts but is cut off before he can offer any type of explanation. He immediately feels stupid for thinking maybe he and Jensen had a new understanding of each other.

“I don’t care what it is. Don’t use it.” Jensen gives him one last warning glare before turning towards the road. “Where is your fucking apartment?”

“There.” Jared points. “Third building on the left. White.” He waits until Jensen stops the car and then tries to get out. His legs give out from under him and his palms land on the hood of the car. More memories hit him. There are three men in them; one is definitely Jensen. He’s happy, smile lines occupying the spots around his eyes that Jensen’s worried wrinkles usually do. They rebuilt this car, at least the body. There are other things there too, things that latch onto parts of Jared’s life.

“Christ.” Jensen gets out of the car, slamming the door harder than necessary and catches Jared around the waist.

“I’ve got it,” Jared offers weakly, trying to hold his own weight.

“The only thing you’ve got is a date with the concrete.”

Jared gives up fighting and lets Jensen help him inside. He tried not to think about how good it feels to have someone so solid and alive pressed up next to him. Jensen’s hand hold his tighter as they take the steps together, his fingers slipping under the hem of Jared’s shirt and flitting over his abs.

There is no blinding rush of memories, only physical contact.

“Jensen, listen…”

Jensen snorts and turns his face far enough away to avoid Jared’s eyes while still watching where they’re going. “This you?” He nods towards a door.

“Yeah. Thanks.” Jared fumbles with his keys, thankful that Jensen still has a hold on him so he can get the key in the lock and push the door open. “Thanks. I can take it from here.”

Jensen lets go, spinning on his heels without another word.

Jared holds on to the doorframe and watches the man retreat. His gut twists and even though he knows Jensen is done with him for now and that he should just let it be, Jared can’t. He calls out. “Jensen?” He watches Jensen freeze but the hunter doesn’t turn to face him. “Listen…you and I…we’re the same. I get it. I know…I know what it is like to live on the edge of the world and look in on something that you can’t have. We…”

Jensen turns in a flurry of movement and storms towards Jared, crowding him and almost suffocating Jared with his presence. “You _don’t_ know me.”

“But I do! I know you…I saw it. We have a skill set that segregates us from everyone else. No one understands us. Hell, we don’t even understand each other. But I understand what it is like to feel alone. I understand what it is like to withdraw from a world of attachments. I hide the pain too. I drink, like you, I – ”

“You know nothing!” Jensen’s chest rises and his breathing grows heavier. “You…whatever your fucking freak ability tells you…you don’t know me! Don’t look in my head! I’m not like you! I’m not a _freak_.” He spits the word out like a dagger and it hits Jared right in its desired spot – his heart. Jared physically pulls back, like the blow can sweep him off his feet. “This whole thing? This whole mess? This is your fault too because you think you can communicate with these _things_. They’re monsters. They’re…” Jared feels like the words “they’re monsters like you” go unsaid. Jensen shakes his head and looks up at Jared with a fire in his eyes. “You’re nothing like me.”

The words are hurtful enough to destroy any words left on Jared’s tongue. He swallows sadly, slipping inside and closing the door on the fury that is Jensen.

He’s glad there is a solid barrier between them because he’d hate to have Jensen see him slam his back against the door and slide to the floor in a destroyed heap.

*****************

Jensen is scum.

He knows he is.

He’s always been too harsh but that type of defense tactic has kept everyone at arms’ length.

What he’d just done to Jared was uncalled for. He’d seen every part of the Seer crumbling right in front of his eyes yet he kept chipping away at the man. Each dig was a grasp for self-preservation but it came at the cost of Jared’s emotional stability.

He’d never met anyone quite like Jared, let alone a Seer.

The part that makes him hate himself, the part that makes him want to scream and break things is the fact that Jared had been right, not with everything but with the things that mattered.

Jensen had seen how people looked at Jared, like they were afraid of him. He knows that look. He was on the receiving end of it himself. Shit, if Jared was a freak then so was he. He’d turned himself into one. Created a world where people were afraid of him and happy to leave him alone.

And now, he’d let Jared pick at a raw wound. He let Jared dig up his brother and poke at the pain it incites. Anger and name calling was a defensive tactic that came on its own. It was a reflex he’d developed along with his hardened skin.

After seeing what Jared was trying to do, noticing the attempt to form some type of kinship, Jensen threw up walls. It was better for both of them but mostly for Jensen. The people he lets in end up dead and there is no more room for the weight of casualties on Jensen’s shoulders.

A healthy person would come to terms with what he’d done and why.

He’s not healthy.

Jensen stops at a liquor store and grabs a bottle of whiskey. It’s cheaper than therapy and rarely seen as weakness.

He ends up with his ass on the ground and the half emptied bottle in his hand, drunk enough to forget what an ass he’d been to Jared. He’s able to think that he’d been good somewhere along the day’s events. He’d protected Jared. Jared was in terrible shape at the start of the day and he was practically dead on his feet after communicating with the dead. Danners didn’t care about Jared’s health, only his ability. Anyone could see that. There was something real and genuine in Jensen’s gut when he stepped in and insisted that Jared go home. There was concern and it had shocked him. He hadn’t felt that in years and never would have guessed a Seer would have stirred it up.

Taking another swig of whiskey, he remembers how warm Jared had felt against his body. The way Jared had looked at him last night with wonderment is stuck on Jensen’s brain. It feeds a fire inside him that he’d tried to keep damp for years. Now, with the alcohol losing his control, Jensen has to admit how nice that feels.

He’d seen Jared asleep and remembers how beautiful his features looked when he isn’t trying to carry the weight of his ability. Somewhere, Jensen’s mind wanders over to what it would feel like to return Jared’s touches. He’s too far gone to feel any shame in the thoughts and the fact that he’d normally never have these feelings towards a Seer never crosses his mind. The darker part of his brain wonders what Jared’s fist or mouth would feel like wrapped around his dick. Keeping that image, he bows his head and fumbles with his jeans. His dicks already half hard at the thought of knotting his fingers in Jared’s longer hair while the man bobs up and down on his cock. He reaches a shaky hand to encircle his length and strokes himself slowly, letting tension leave his body with a throaty moan.  
  
He isn’t proud of the act but Jensen builds up a fast pace, fisting his dick roughly and letting out gasps of pleasure. He keeps picturing Jared and squeezes his eyes closed to keep the image in his brain. It shocks him when Jared’s name leave his lip on the tail end of a sigh. His balls draw up and he gasps, wishing he could come down Jared’s throat and watch the man swallow him down.

It’s over fast, and is as dirty as Jensen feels. His orgasm ripping from him with a choked cry bordering on something pained as he tenses and comes all over his fist. There’s pleasure in it but guilt pounds away at it and the release breaks something in Jensen. He feels worse somehow, like he’s been using Jared. Biting into his fist, he tries to stifle a pained sob. The sob turns into several and Jensen can barely catch his breath. There are hazel eyes dancing in his vision and they see straight through him. Nothing makes sense anymore.

*************

“He’s a fucking asshole.” Kelly is pacing Jared’s apartment. “I’mma fucking kill him.”

“He’d kill you first.” Jared says from his spot on the couch. He’s stretched out, arm folded over his eyes and a pained look emanating from the tension in his jaw.

“I’m quick. He’ll never expect it.” Spinning, Kelly faces Jared, tossing her long hair over her shoulder. “You look like shit.”

“You say that a lot. Remind me again why I’m friends with you?” Jared makes a show of rolling his eyes at her. Despite the question, he knows exactly why she’s his friend. She’s been there for him for years, constantly picking up the pieces and shoving them back into place when no one else on earth has ever bothered. He’s lucky he landed himself in a town with a bartender who’s got a bleeding heart underneath her sassy exterior because he knows Kelly is honestly looking out for him. Swatting blindly at the ground, he tries to make contact with the bottle of vodka he knows he placed there.

Kelly swoops in and snatches it, careful to avoid the flesh of Jared’s hand. “Nuh-uh. You’ve had enough of that young man.”

“Have not.” It was two drinks, barely anything. It’s probably cowardice but Jared needed something to down the open wounds Jensen left in him.

“Have too.” Swinging out of Jared’s reach, Kelly puts a hand on her hip. “He’s an ass. This…this, Jensen person. He’s an ass if he thinks there is anything wrong with you. You’re…you’re like a fucking superhero. Do you know how much good you’ve done?”

“ _I_ know. He doesn’t. That’s the point. Besides,” Jared pushes himself up and realizes maybe Kelly is right. His head is fuzzy from the alcohol but once he stops moving he can ignore that. “I started it. I shouldn’t have pushed him to talk about his past.”

“Are you serious?” Kelly’s jaw drops and Jared loves her for it. She’s on his side, no matter what, no matter if it’s the wrong side. “That doesn’t mean you deserved to be called a freak. After you saved his ungrateful ass.”

“It…It’s not like that.” Jared shakes his head. He has no idea why he is defending Jensen considering everything Kelly is saying is true. He’s hurt and pissed off and he _did_ save Jensen but Jensen had repaid the favor and took care of him all night when he was busy learning how to function in the human world again. “It’s…it’s like,” he fumbles for words with a series of hand gestures. “I touched his car. I saw things, I saw…I saw _everything_. You don’t know what it’s like. It doesn’t happen all the time but sometimes, when I get visions, it’s like everything hits me all at once and it’s the truth. See…a person’s memories are biased and based on interpretation. What I see is kinda like blueprints. I get the ideas and sometimes the emotions they invoke but it’s always real. It’s always true and raw and something completely personal. It’s like I _stole_ clues to his past.” Jared looks up at Kelly in hopes that she is following but she looks just as determined to damn Jensen. “It’s like if you had a diary and someone you just met stole it and read everything about you. How would you like that?”

“I’d kick that person’s ass.” With a squeak, Kelly stiffens in realization that she’s just acknowledged Jensen’s side of the situation.

“Exactly.”

“Don’t mean he wasn’t out of line.”

“Don’t mean I wasn’t either.” Jared shrugs. “I got ahead of myself. Shit, Kelly, do you know what it was like to think someone understood me? I pushed too hard.”

With a soft laugh, Kelly hummed in agreement. “You do that.”

“I know. It’s just…I could touch him, Kel. _Really_ touch him. Without gloves and with both hands. _That’s never happened before_. Ever. I can touch him and forget for a second that I normally can’t do that. There are no visions or memories.”

“You touched him?” Immediately, Kelly’s protective and crowding Jared’s vision. “Did he touch you?”

“Yeah, he touched me, you idiot. I was passed out and half dead. He carried me to his hotel.” Suddenly, Jared picks up on the other reason for Kelly’s concern and he flushes read. “Ugh! Did you think we…that he…that we…” he stammers and blushes a deeper red.

“Sex, Jared. Christ, Jared, you can’t even say it.” Laughing, she sits beside he friend. “And yes, I was referring to sex.”

“No! Are you kidding, Kelly? I just met the fucking guy.”

“And you’re so gung-ho to defend him _why?”_

“Because…I dunno. Because he looks like he needs defending.”

A shrill ringing sound from Kelly’s purse shatters their discussion and Jared’s happy to have a moment where Jensen isn’t flooding his thoughts.

“Fuck.” Kelly curses as she fishes out her phone. “It’s work.” Glancing at the time, she lets out another curse. “I was due in at work almost an hour ago.”

“Go.” Jared shoos her with a wave of his hand. “I’m fine. I swear.”

Kelly looks uncertain for a moment, warring with actually leaving her friend. “Okay. Stop by later? Please?”

“We’ll see. I’ve got to call Danners, see if he needs me anywhere tomorrow.”

“‘Kay.” She blows Jared a kiss. “And maybe you can take care of yourself for once instead of always defending the rest of the world?”

“Miracles can happen.” He smiles to make sure Kelly believes that he’s okay and it saddens him that he’s gotten skilled enough at forced smiles that even his best friend is fooled. “Go.”

“Love you.” She smiles sadly and lets out a sigh, soaking in Jared’s energy drained body.

“Love you too.” The smile Jared gives her in return is a real one this time. He can’t help it. It feels good to hear that someone loves him, even if it is Kelly and she’s told him that every day since the day he landed himself in the hospital three years ago and she’d thought she almost lost him. That was a long time ago and Jared was stupider then, but Kelly still doesn’t waste any chance to make sure he knows he’s valued.

The woman leaves, mindfully closing the door gently behind her so as not to rustle up Jared’s headache. There are five minutes of silence where Jared lets his head fall back onto the sofa and reflect on what had just happened.

Kelly is right.

He’s defending Jensen, which is a new thing. He swore that the last time he’d talked to Kelly, he cursed the hunter’s name and called him an ignorant barbarian. Back then, before any feelings were hurt or lines were crossed, Kelly simply teased Jared, focusing more on what Jensen looked like than the fact that he was a hunter. Now that Kelly wants to actually discuss the insanity of a Seer and hunter working together, Jared can’t seem to get Jensen’s green eyes out of his mind.

A knock at the door makes Jared shake his head and laugh. Hoisting himself up from the couch, he rolls his eyes up towards the ceiling as he opens the door. “What you forget now, Kel?”

His question is cut off by body weight crashing into him and lips fumbling to seal against Jared’s.

It’s definitely not Kelly and Jared stumbles backwards, eyes wide and trying to assess the situation while his assailant takes clumsy steps forward and keeps their lips together. Jared lets out a muffled snort of shock and thinks he must be going crazy when he realizes that Jensen is pressing into him, forcing his way through Jared’s door and kicking it closed after several sloppy sweeps of his left leg. The complete surprise of the situation makes Jared pliant and he somehow ends up pressed with his back against the wall beside the door and Jensen pressing into him so heavily that he feels he might go through the dry wall.

For a moment, he loses himself.

He’s been kissed before, lots of times and in the beginning the excitement over kissing someone ran heavily enough to drown out any of the visions the connection caused. Now, though, the visions aren’t worth dealing with. It’s impossible for him to lose himself to such a moment because he’s stuck swimming through other people’s memories. Now, however, there is nothing but Jensen’s lips moving against his. They’re desperate and searching, coupled with pathetic noises that make Jared see the man as something wounded and seeking shelter and redemption.

So Jared lets himself get lost for a second. It happens unintentionally at first but once he realizes that he’s kissing Jensen back, letting his heart swoon at the gesture and his knees weaken, he tries to get himself under control. It’s hard because Jensen’s lips are dominating and in control, asking just as much as they are taking.

Closing his eyes, Jared forces a distance between them. He gets his hands on Jensen’s chest and shoves hard enough to push him back. He lies to himself and says it is a reflex but when Jared punches Jensen in the jaw, he knows part of it is payback for the freak comment.

Jensen stumbles, hand going up to rub his jaw. He stares at Jared like he’d just woken from a dream and he isn’t sure if what happened is real or not.

“What the fuck, Jensen?” Jared runs his fingers over his lips and chases the kiss Jensen stole from him. The lingering sweet taste of alcohol is on his tongue and he’s not sure who’s at fault for that. On his mental score board, he designates them as tied. He’d stolen Jensen’s memories and now Jensen has his kiss on his lips.

Jensen runs a both hands over his face and plants them there. “Oh, god.” He takes a deep breath but it sounds conflicted. When he lets his hands drop, Jared doesn’t think he recognizes the person in front of him. True, Jensen _looks_ the same, but there is something stripped down about him.

Looking like he has no idea what to say, Jensen skims a hand through his hair and lets words spill from his lips. “My brother was murdered.”

“Wha?” That isn’t what Jared was expecting. An apology, maybe. But a revelation that weighty? That wasn’t even on Jared’s radar. He supposes he should have seen it coming, considering the way Jensen reacted to their conversation in the car.

“My brother was murdered. I…I watched it happen. My father too.” Jensen wobbles for a second and then pushes past Jared, needing to get off his feet. He falls onto the couch with both hands cradling his head.

Jared has no idea what to do. Honestly, he’s confused because he thought Jensen hated him. He thought he kinda hated Jensen as well. But those feelings are gone and it makes no sense. He doesn’t know what to do now that all logic has left his brain. He wants to be angry for the way Jensen assaulted him but he looks at the hunter and finds Jensen to be a teary mess. That breaks Jared’s heart. To Jared, it seems that everything about Jensen screams strength and composure. Seeing him break down and expose himself makes Jared’s natural instinct to protect kick in. He is barely back in Jensen’s line of vision before the man is looking at him with eyes red enough to let Jared know he’s been like this for a while.

“I was 12. My brother was 22. The car…we…my father owned a body shop. It’s what we do – did,” he corrects. “My mom left us a little while after I was born and…kinda grew up working on cars. My dad…he was a hunter. Not the fucked up kind that I became but the kind that kills deer and shit. He was good at it. Used to track wildlife for the town. He taught me and my brother everything he knew. And then…we…we were tracking a pack of wolves. The town told my dad they were responsible for killing a little boy. Paid him good money if he took on the task of killing ‘em. Dad and Josh, my brother, they didn’t have a problem tracking them. They took me along to help with traps.” He pauses and lets out a crazed laugh, gasping for a lung’s full of air and looking at Jared like he’s been falling part for as long as the memory he’s sharing has been alive inside of him. “Found the wolves…no problem. But those wolves…they weren’t wolves. They were werewolves. Killed my dad before he knew what was coming. Josh shoved me in his car, way down on the floorboards. I turned around just in time to see a wolf rip his throat out against the windshield.” A cry leaves Jensen’s mouth and it sounds jagged and dangerous. “I swore I would hunt down every fucking creature that did that to them. So I learned. I went from foster home to foster home. Ended up with a hunter, my kind of hunter, who taught me everything I know. I used the hunting skills my father taught me and coupled them with what I learned about the supernatural. I became the best. A prodigy they said. Then I went back and killed every damn one in that fucking were’ pack. And I kept on killing.” He’s shaking by the time he’s done and the words drip with pain. “Why the fuck am I telling you this?”

“Shh,” is all Jared can say because he’s not sure what to do with the broken man in front of him. There are wounds there that he’d grazed over in Jensen’s car but now that he understands them fully, he has no idea how there aren’t giant chunks of Jensen missing. “Shh…”

But Jensen doesn’t quiet.

“And then…then I call you a freak, like it’s your fault. It’s not. But me? I’m all my fault. I did this to me. I made myself hate because it was the only thing that kept me going but now it’s turning me into something,” his words drop off and he licks his lips, shrugging like the gesture even has a chance of summing up the storm of confused emotions going through him.

Jared wants to do a lot of things.

He wants to punch Jensen again for being an idiot.

He wants to tell him that as much as he is accustomed to being seen as a freak, hearing it on Jensen’s tongue wounded him.

He wants to ask him who the hell he thinks he is barging into his apartment and breaking down like that.

Instead, someone else takes over Jared’s body and he finds himself swinging a leg over Jensen’s thighs and straddling his lap. His hands reach out and get a firm hold on Jensen’s jaw and tugs him closer.

Jared’s never pulled another human being this close to him before and the rush is invigorating. He drags Jensen’s weight towards him and crashes their lips together. They’re both shocked by the action and take matching sharp inhales. There is a clash of teeth and it’s awkward at first. Jared can’t figure out if he should tilt his head to the left or right but he makes the decision for both of them by forcing Jensen’s head still, fingers locked under his jaw, and tilting his own head to the right. It gives him better access to Jensen’s lips and he goes for it.

As tight as Jared is keeping his muscle to insure that he’s got Jensen locked just where he wants him, he feels himself melting into the hunter. Their lips figure out how to navigate around each other and just as he finds the courage to breech Jensen’s lips and push his tongue inside, the hunter’s calloused hands slip under his shirt and make a slow slide up the curve of his back.

Sighing, Jared lets his eyes flutter closed. Everywhere Jensen touches him feels hot. Jared thinks that is impossible. Humans don’t have the power to scorch another person from a simple touch but it’s happening to Jared; at least, that’s the only way he can describe it. His head lolls back and his whole body hums with the feeling of another person’s fingers dancing over him. There are no visions and the pure sensation of skin against skin is alien. He yelps when Jensen takes advantage of his exposed neck, nipping at it and then sucking hard enough to leave a bruise.

“Jesus!” Jared shivers but doesn’t remove his hands from their hold on Jensen’s jaw. He finds himself pulling the man closer, urging Jensen on with little gasps and a roll of his hips. He tenses, frozen in the fear that the hip roll may have been too much.

Jensen catches on and bucks his hips up to meet Jared’s. The tiny movement is enough to set things moving again.

For all the time Jared’s had to hide them from the world, he’s not actually sure what to do with his hands now that he can touch. For a crazy moment, he wants to rip into Jensen and bury them inside him so he can actually feel who the man is. It’s insane, he knows that but his fingers twitch and he swallows thickly.

Jensen’s hands snake up Jared’s body and his fingers comb into the hair as they follow the curve of his neck and skull. “This okay?”

“Yea-yeah.”

**********************

Jensen thinks he’s never been so happy to hear a yes out of someone’s mouth. After getting used to living in a world where he made things happen and took what he wanted, it’s a shock to care about a little three letter word. Only, he does now. He cares and he yanks Jared’s lips back down to cover his own.

The last few hours are a blur and he has no idea how any of this happened.

He doesn’t deserve to be here and he certainly doesn’t deserve the noises Jared’s making as they delve into another deep kiss.

The man is ridiculously responsive to every touch. He feels Jared pushing into his hands whenever he moves them. He whimpers and shivers so deliciously that Jensen’s sure none of this is real.

It can’t be.

One does not actually tell someone the truth about his family and then end up with a comforting heap of over six feet of attractiveness on his lap. That isn’t how it should happen but it is.

Jared writhes on his lap and when Jensen tries to reposition him, the man’s legs clamp down tight and remind Jensen of just how strong and deadly Jared can be. The thought does nothing to frighten him but everything to intrigue him. He feels a jolt of energy and excitement run down his spine and he fucks his tongue into Jared’s mouth, tugging on his hair for better access.

He’s wronged Jared and this isn’t making up for any of that but Jensen’s human. There is no way he can take a time-out to make sure Jared is thinking with his brain.

They’ve both been in the trenches of this mess of a police case and Jensen has a feeling that they both need _this_.

Their bodies are pressed so closely together that Jensen can feel Jared’s heart thumping and he thinks, “I’ve done that,” with pride.

Going for a kiss along Jared’s neck, right behind his ear, Jensen catches Jared off guard enough that he can slips his arms under the man’s thighs and hoist him up long enough to flip their positions, landing Jared on his back against the couch with a whoosh of air.

The beautiful part about Jared at this moment is that he says nothing. He’s smart enough not to. He lets his kiss swollen lips fall open to release puffs of air. Somehow, without words, he gets everything across to Jensen: Jared had no idea where this is going but he’s letting it happen. There is trust overflowing from his lust glazed eyes and when Jensen blankets himself over him, Jared reaches up to meet him.

They collapse onto the couch together, this time their hands trying to search out all the parts of each other they couldn’t reach before.

Jared gets his hands under Jensen’s shirt and sighs. The fingers trail over the raised scar tissue that makes up some of his tattoos and fascination is painted all over his face rather than the disgust or confusion people usually throw Jensen’s way when they see his ink riddled back.

Time stops and draws out.

Jensen swears he hasn’t been in Jared’s apartment for more than an hour but the clock on the wall and the ache building between his legs tells him he has been.

They’re kissing like teenagers: messy and perfect.

Jared is intense and sensual and he kisses Jensen like he needs the other man’s mouth for survival. It is completely intoxicating and fuels every spark in Jensen’s belly to explode and make his heart do flip-flops.

Tilting his head up, he fights with Jared for dominance of the kiss, tongues warring for control. Suddenly, the man’s hands are at his hips, rough and groping, and Jensen thinks he’s met his match. The idea pops into his head without any thought. It just appears as soon as Jared’s hands exert any real power over him. He’d seen what those hands could do and now they are finding ways to pop the button on Jensen’s jeans, successful despite their shaking. Grabbing onto Jared’s own hips, Jensen’s fingers dig into the area around his hip bones as he moans, forcing his lips against Jared’s and licking the inside of his mouth.

They rock against each other, bodies moving in time with the tug-o-war for dominance of the kiss. Jared’s legs hike up around Jensen’s waist and tighten around him with a moan. Slowly, he traces the outline of Jensen’s lips with his tongue, as if memorizing their make-up, before diving in again and letting out a little growl.

That’s when Jensen knows he was going to become a hypocrite and betray any preconceived notions about himself. For whatever he thought about Seers, he is letting himself fall apart on top of one. Jared is going to shatter him and he isn’t sure if that is bad. Jared, who seems to have a better grasp on the world than Jensen does and who is squirming perfectly under Jensen’s body, clearly trying to destroy him with his mouth.

“Fuck, Jared,” Jensen sighs as his hands kick into motion. They are used to being rough and efficient, making quick work of shoving their pants down to expose a twin set of arousals.

All Jensen’s brain can supply is that Jared’s dick is _nice_ and begging to be touched. He supposes, from what he’d gleaned about Jared, skin on skin contact down there is probably even less of an occurrence than other parts of Jared’s body. Testing the theory, he trails his fingers over the rigid length.

“Ngh!” Jared tenses and chokes on air, gasping with wide eyes as he looks at Jensen. Immediately, his hips buck in search of more contact.

It’s enough.

Jensen licks his lips then seals them to Jared’s. He swallows down moan after moan while he gets a whole fist around Jared’s dick and pumps it. A soft moan flutters out of the Seer’s mouth as he pulls Jensen closer, locking his hands around the man’s waist. The couch is cramped but having Jared – like this – so close makes the discomfort fade away.

Another surprised gasp leaves Jared’s mouth when Jensen shifts his hips and their arousals line up so that they brush together. Taking Jared’s breathy moans as a good sign, Jensen wraps his fingers around both of them and works his hips so they slide together.

“Oh my…huh!” Arching his back, Jared’s whole body quivers. Eyes closing, he lets his head fall back. “Ohh…don’t…oh!” He shivers again, becomes a mess of words, and can’t get a full sentence out.

Jensen is about to pull back but Jared reaches up and yanks him closer, kissing him desperately while rocking his hips up into Jensen’s fist.

Pulling away just enough so that their lips graze one another’s, Jensen can see the flush of arousal on Jared’s cheeks. The Seer sighs, “don’t stop…don’t…” and pushes into Jensen’s hand.

In a room Jensen barely knows, he has no problem filling it with panting and sighs as he works both of their dicks together. He feels his balls drawing up and struggles to keep it together until he is sure Jared is going to come. Normally, he’d feel embarrassed that a few minutes with his dick against Jared’s would send him hurtling toward orgasm so quickly but it doesn’t seem to matter. They are a mess of desperate, hurried groping and clinging, so much that Jensen thinks there will probably be bruises. Jared won’t let him go, like everything that is about to happen depends on their skin-on-skin contact. Jared’s breathing is growing ragged and his legs are tightening around Jensen’s waist, holding on tightly as Jared gasps. There is a rush of hot release over Jensen’s fist as he works the Seer though his orgasm.

“Shit, Jared!” Jensen buries his face in the man’s neck and pumps his hips once, twice, three times until he joins the younger man and comes between their bellies. It’s so much better than the orgasm he’d had alone and Jared’s blissed out face looks so much sexier in real life. It’s hard to breath against the sweat damp skin at Jared’s neck but he stays there, gulping down air in disbelief of what just happened.

Everything gets awkward really quickly after that.

Their movements slow and reverberate through the room before they are pushed out by their usual composure. Jensen is still buried in Jared’s neck and he really _doesn’t_ want to move and deal with explaining what all that was about.

Jared groans under his weight and in an attempt to get the man to move bumps his hips into Jensen’s. “Come on,” he says, like there is no question as to where they are going.

“Huh?”

“There is a perfectly good bed in the other room if you plan on passing out here.”

“I…”

Jared shoves him again and this time Jensen rolls off towards the backrest of the couch, letting Jared get to his feet. He’s a mess of rumpled clothing and come streaks, hair paying the price for Jensen grinding him into the couch cushions. “Come on.” He holds out a hand in invitation.

Jensen blinks and tries to think of a reason why he shouldn’t follow his gut and accept Jared’s invitation. “You hate me.”

“Yeah, yeah, yeah.” Jared shakes his head and rolls his eyes. “And you think I’m a freak. We’ll still think that tomorrow. Come on. I think we both need sleep.”

“I don’t think you’re a freak. I mean…I do but…you’re not and I…I don’t think you’re a freak, except you are but not really,” Jensen stammers while looking at Jared’s outstretched palm.

“If that’s your apology, it’s shitty.” Jared wobbles for a second, making Jensen think that maybe neither of them are fit to be offering a hand.

“It’s a shitty apology,” Jensen clarifies.

“Well I don’t hate you. Not really. You make me want to rip my hair out but that’s not from hate.” Wiggling his hand, he cocks his head towards Jensen. “Come on. We’re both a little drunk and we’re both not making sense. I’ll get something for us to clean up.”

Jensen feels like he should say more. Whatever he just said was a pretty lame version of an apology but Jared either doesn’t care or isn’t thinking clearly or both. He lets Jared pull him to his feet and practically drag him towards a bedroom. Every step is a stumbling shuffle and Jensen feels a bit like it’s the blind leading the blind.

Instinct makes him want to survey his surroundings and assess the situation but exhaustion, both physical and emotional make him collapse on the bed while Jared goes to find the promised towel.

He’s out cold before the Seer returns.


	6. Leveling the Field

Jared groans and twists his face away from the rectangle of light landing across his face. He squeezes his eyes closed in an attempt to stay asleep and find darkness but it’s too late. The sun is filtering through the window he obviously forgot to shade last night and sends a ray aimed directly at him, bright enough to illuminate swirls of dust.

Flopping onto his belly, Jared buries his face in the pillow and exhales loudly. The pounding in his head is still there from the day before but it’s infinitely better than when he almost passed out at the crime scene and Jensen had to…

Jensen!

Jared’s eyes pop open and he pushes himself up on his forearms, twisting his head towards the other dead weight in his bed.

Jensen’s lying there, sprawled out on his side, one leg dangling off the mattress and one arm thrown up and curved over his head. His mouth is slack and the focused scowl Jared’s seen him wear is nowhere to be seen. He’s shirtless and Jared swallows thickly before letting his eyes travel down towards his waist when he remembers what the two of them did last night.

Thankfully for Jared’s heart, Jensen’s covered up. His jeans are still popped open and tugged low on his hips but his black boxer briefs are in place and doing their job.

Despite that, Jared feels the beginnings of a storm of emotion in his gut. Mouth suddenly going dry, he licks his lips and contemplates what he is supposed to do with a nearly naked hunter in his bed who’s sporting some pretty obvious evidence of what they did last night crusted into the trail of hair leading down past the waistband of his underwear. The memory warms Jared for a moment. He has to admit that Jensen is easy on the eyes, especially with the sun filtering over the cut of his hips and slight softness to his belly. It’s not enough for anyone to deny the strength under Jensen’s skin but it serves to make him seem more human and less like an animalistic killer.

Jared looks down at himself and finds that he’s wearing less clothing than Jensen, as he habitually does when he sleeps. There is only a threadbare pair of jersey pants with nothing underneath between him and Jensen and even though they cover enough of him, he feels exposed.

It’s literally the first time he’s woken up with someone in his bed. It makes him feel pathetic that he’s a grown ass man and has never had the experience of waking up next to someone. Logically, it makes sense. The parts of the world that haven’t already cut themselves off to Jared have been cut off by the Seer himself. He’s distanced himself for two reasons. The first is obvious. His life is messy and he can’t think of a way that a person would fit into the spaces his life provides. The second is obvious to him but he’s sure that no one else understands. In order to end up with someone in his bed, he’d have to get close to someone and getting close to someone on that level usually includes physical contact. It’s kind of hard to convince someone that Jared actually wants them around after Jared’s seen their memories and he’s too lost in them to act like the type of actual human being worth spending the night with.

But Jensen had spent the night after giving Jared one hell of an orgasm.

Jared’s dick twitches and betrays his nerves. He remembers the way Jensen’s lips felt on his and how the only thing he’d felt was Jensen’s white hot need and the demanding weight of his hips.

There was nothing else.

It was just the two of them and no one was inside each other’s heads.

Eyes closed, a happy hum leaves Jared’s throat. He lingers on that happiness and decides he can deal with the complicated parts of waking up next to Jensen later. Having anyone in Jared’s bed would be complicated, Jensen being a hunter is just another item on the list.

He reaches out a hand and traces it over Jensen’s skin. The man is warm and clearly magnetic because Jared is drawn to him, shifting so close that they share body heat.

Under his fingertips he meets scars both old and new. Some look terrifying, others clean and neat. None of them repulse Jared. He’s never touched a scar and felt it for what it was. In police cases, Danners usually has him touch a victim’s wound in hopes that he’d get a clearer picture of how it happens. No one gets scars like Jensen’s without a painful story to it. Touching Jensen, however, doesn’t come with a horror movie playing on the back of Jared’s eyelids. He traces the outline of tattoos that pack enough power to keep Jared out of Jensen’s head. Whatever they are, Jared loves them. He wishes the world could have them, like it is some type of mandate to keep Jared from feeling like a freak. They all look important, but his fingers skim over two script names, Josh and Alan, on Jensen’s chest, near his heart. They don’t belong at all yet they’re completely at home on Jensen’s skin.

Jared loses himself. Time gets away from him and he finds himself exploring more of Jensen’s skin. He feels like a kid who’s been given free reign of a candy store and he needs to make the most of his limited time. To say he is addicted is an understatement. Touching Jensen comes with nothing but warm touches and appreciation for what the human body is capable of.

When Jensen startles, the muscles ripple under Jared’s fingers and he pulls back.

“Don’t stop,” Jensen mumbles and burrows more deeply into the pillow, this time facing Jared.

Jared’s surprised. He’d expected Jensen to snap into wakefulness and tackle him to the ground. He’s seen the man do it before so the lethargic roll of Jensen’s muscles and the sleepy sigh that leaves his mouth catches Jared off guard. He also hadn’t expected the soft quality to Jensen’s request and he can’t deny the hunter. He reaches out again and tiptoes his fingers over Jensen’s hip.

The moment is simple and Jared’s afraid that when it breaks, something inside of him will too.

He doesn’t expect anything in return after last night. He’s not an idiot. They were two people who had a moment of weakness and found comfort in a basic human need. But part of his gut wishes. It hopes and nags at him and it’s there even though Jared tries to bury it under a mountain of self-sufficiency.

Jensen wakes up fully and grabs Jared’s wrist with a quick snap, making Jared gasp.

They stare at each other in tense silence before Jensen gets his wits about him and relaxes back onto the bed, mumbling, “sorry.”

“It’s okay.” Jared doesn’t miss a beat, speaking almost too quickly.

“No. It’s not.” Rubbing both hands over his face, Jensen’s deep groan vibrates through the room. He stretches his muscles in slow motion, giving a satisfied moan when they’re lengthened to their fullest extent. “It’s not okay.”

Jared catches himself staring for all the wrong reasons and focuses on something other than Jensen’s chest. He notices a speck of dirt or dust in the corner of the room and thinks it might be a bug. Bugs are far less arousing than the noises the hunter is making. He feels himself getting nervous and words bubble out of his mouth before he has a fighting chance of stopping them. “What’s not okay? Last night? Because I…that’s…it’s cool…I – ”

Jensen cuts him off and lays flat on his back. “Fuck. It’s too early for this type of conversation.” He rolls his eyes towards Jared. “Coffee. You got coffee?”

“Yeah, I…I…” Jared scrambles to look like he has everything together except he doesn’t. At all. He had no idea how he is supposed to act or what would prevent him from looking like an idiot.

“Jared. It’s just coffee.” Jensen says and catches Jared’s wrist again, this time gently. He keeps the Seer from getting out of bed. “Christ, Jared. You’re like…” Whatever he is going to say dies on his lips and he sighs sadly. “I’m sorry. Not about last night…I’m not sorry about that. Unless you…?” He pauses and when Jared shakes his head, he lets out a breath. “I knew what I was doing last night. I wanted that. But I’m sorry about what I said…yesterday afternoon. I shouldn’t have said any of that. I’m an asshole and I shouldn’t have taken it out on you. There is nothing wrong with you. There’s a lot wrong with me.”

This time, Jared holds up a hand to silence Jensen. “You’re right. Coffee. I should make coffee.” The words that are coming out of Jensen’s mouth are too heavy to deal with in the dreamy morning Jared’s just been fluttering through.

He slips out of the bed, tugging on a shirt and padding through the kitchen. Making coffee is routine for him. There is no milk in the fridge and he hopes Jensen doesn’t mind black and strong because that’s how Jared’s preparing it. He doesn’t bother calling Jensen when it’s done; he lets the coffee aromas do that for him.

Jensen shuffles into the kitchen, barefoot with his jeans covering most of his feet. Jared thinks it would be adorable if there wasn’t a bundle of nerves twisting in his stomach.

“So…” Jensen states awkwardly as he scratches at the back of his head and bites his lip.

“Black,” is all Jared has to offer as he shoves a cup of coffee in the hunter’s hands.

“Thanks.”

“Welcome.”

They both sip their coffee in silence. Jared burns the roof of his mouth slightly in desperation to have caffeine kick his brain into thinking straight. Out in the open, with sun filtering into the kitchen and making Jared feel alive, the Seer starts to feel like himself. His confidence falls back into place and he remembers who he is. “I don’t hate you but I think you’re an ignorant asshole sometimes.”

“I deserve that.”

“Yeah, you do.” Jared takes another gulp of coffee. “You can’t go around thinking that you’re the only one who knows everything. ‘Cause you’re not.”

“I know most things,” Jensen states as he stares at Jared from over the rim of his coffee cup.

“But not everything.”

“No, not everything.” Considering that fact for a moment, Jensen sighs. “You know a lot of…you know…stuff. Never met anyone quite like you. I don’t understand what you do and I don’t always agree with keeping the monsters alive but I guess I could respect that.”

Jared snorts. “Is that another attempt at a shitty apology?”

“I’m tryin’ here, ‘kay?”

“Okay.” Jared nods. He can tell apologizing doesn’t come easy to Jensen but the effort is there, as convoluted as it is. “I respect what you do too…even if hunters are not exactly on Seers’ friends list.”

Jensen hums in thought. “Yeah, well…we’ll just agree to disagree.” He finishes his coffee in one gulp. “Got more?”

“Yeah.” Jared points towards the coffee machine and offers his own empty cup to Jensen.

Pouring them two fresh cups of coffee, Jensen returns to have another awkward stare-a-thon with Jared. His green eyes flicker up towards Jared and the Seer can’t help but think that they’re darker than he remembers, like they’re more intense to match the mood in the room. His lips are plush and pushed out slightly, like there are a million words behind them but he won’t part them enough just yet to let them through.

Jared drinks more coffee and waits for Jensen to make a move. His mind flashes back to the drunken revelation Jensen unleashed on him last night and he’s pretty sure the sadness he feels for the hunter is leaching into his eyes.

“So,” Jensen starts, “what you said yesterday afternoon, about being like me…about understanding where I am coming from? That was nice of you to say and I shut you down. I’m sorry for that too. I didn’t mean it like that. See…‘cause you’re right. We’re kinda the same. You just…you brought up my brother and – ”

Guilt washes over Jared. He _knew_ he was hitting a raw nerve when he mentioned Jensen’s brother but he kept doing it anyway. It solves nothing and he’s not sure why he even does it, but he tells Jensen something no one but Kelly knows, like it’s some way of redeeming his misstep. “My mother committed suicide when I was five.”

Jensen’s reaction is immediate. He drops the mug to the table top and Jared watches it splinter and spill the liquid across the surface. The mug was old and chipped so Jared knows it didn’t take much to send it into a handful of people. He thinks it’s kind of appropriate that at least something physical is shattering along with the many walls between he and Jensen.

They both scramble backwards before the liquid scalds their thighs.

“Shit, sorry!” Jensen makes a wild search for something absorbent and finds a lone roll of paper towels. The mess is dealt with easier than any of the other messes they have on their plates.

“It’s okay. It’s just an old mug.” Jared grabs the garbage pail and helps sweep the ceramic pieces into it. Their hands brush once and it’s like they’ve sent an electric shock through each other’s body. Jared lets out a nervous laugh and breaks the eye contact.

“Still sorry.” Jensen tosses the dripping paper towels in the garbage. “And sorry about your mom. Sorry…that’s – ”

“Rough, I know. Just…I wanted to make sure you knew you weren’t the only one who lost someone to something tragic…only, at least you know you had nothing to do with your brother and Dad’s deaths. See, my mom? She made it quite clear that she couldn’t handle having a freak for a son. She left me and my dad all alone with nothing but a bleed out shell of a body and a note that said she’s sorry, asking that my dad make sure I don’t touch her body so I don’t feel her pain or see what she’d done. But I saw it all anyway. I found her before my dad, saw everything. Felt everything. My dad locked me up in a pediatric psych ward for most of my childhood. He couldn’t deal with me. To him, I’d killed his wife…so…” Jared stops when a tear slips down his face. Twenty five years later and he’s still a little boy with mommy issues who can’t get over the wounds his mother dug into his heart. It never stops hurting even though he’s come to terms with it long ago. He knows he’s the victim. He does. But sometimes he feels like it’s the opposite way around. “Christ, why am I even telling you this? I’m sorry. It’s not your problem.”

“Shit, Jared. That’s…” Jensen struggles to find words and he rubs his temples. “Fuck, you were a kid. A kid, Jared. There’s no way any of that was your fault. It’s not my problem but…shit…the hand you were dealt? That’s rough. And here I am bitching that my family was murdered after I had hundreds of good memories with them.”

Jared actually laughs at that and it feels good to have something in place to help push away the tears and sadness. “Are we comparing whose parent was killed worse?”

It takes a minute for Jensen to switch over from their serious conversation and revelation to Jared’s attempt to break the tension. They’ve both spent too long dwelling on their losses and he gets the feeling that they need to keep the past in the past. They both know now and knowing is enough for two grown men. Jensen smiles enough to let Jared know that they’ve found some common ground. “You’re right. We are equal…the same.”

Spoken out loud, Jared’s certain no one has ever felt that way. That same mix of terror and excitement fills him and for once in his life he really has no sense of what’s happening.

There is so much left to be said but a shrill chirp and a rapid chime fills the room. It’s both their cell phones and if they’re going off at the same time, Jared knows it’s Danners.

Danners’ calling both of them isn’t a good thing.

Jared jogs through the apartment towards his discarded jeans in his bedroom while Jensen struggles to get his phone out of his own pocket.

They must read it at the same time because the minute a curse leaves Jared’s mouth, one is mumbled under Jensen’s breath.

“There’s been another murder,” Jared says dumbly.

Jensen growls and slams the phone on the table. “Let’s catch this son of a bitch.”

**************

Jensen can tell that Jared feels waves of negative energy coming off the house the moment he parks his car in front of it.

They get out and all eyes are on them. He’s sure the fact that he and Jared are arriving together, again, is raising a few eyebrows and getting the gossip mill going. He doesn’t give a shit. He and Jared have a poltergeist wielding psychopath to catch.

If he is being honest with himself, which is something he’s never been good at, he’d be staring right along with all of the other officers. He and Jared are very obviously awkward. They steal weird glances at each other and after yesterday’s clear display of their hyper-protectiveness over each other, people are bound to scratch their heads in confusion while trying to figure out the dynamics between the hunter and Seer. They’ve also noticed that Jared doesn’t wear his leather gloves around Jensen. Jensen’s seen the way Danners’ and other officers’ eyes went from Jared’s gloveless hands to where he freely touched Jensen to get the hunter’s attention.

They’re baffled.

Jensen wishes they would put as much interest and focus into the murder case as hand rather than whatever is developing between he and Jared.

The house in front of them is similar to the other crime scenes Jensen’s seen. It’s a nice house in and affluent neighborhood. Somewhere one wouldn’t expect such a gruesome murder to occur, which is why, Jensen figures, the murder chose it. He wants the body to be found, like it’s some kind of warning to others.

It’s bragging, that’s what it is. Sometimes, Jensen isn’t all that shocked by how similar supernatural and human killers are. Jensen’s hunted enough things to know that when one gets cocky, it’s easier to make mistakes. There are always mistakes and Jensen’s never missed one.

He’s not going to start now.

“It’s angry,” Jared whispers as they take the porch’s steps two at a time.

“Great,” Jensen grumbles.

The inside of the house is different than the previous crime scene. Jensen knows this one’s going to be bad without needing to see the body. The forensic officers and the rest of the police force are more tense and engrossed in what they are doing. They don’t bother to leave their eyes at Jared and Jensen for longer than to identify them.

There is more action at the heart of the house but from their place on the outskirts of all the activity, Jensen can’t see what’s going on. “Danners?”

“Over here,” the police chief barks. He meets them half way. Gone are the snide remarks or judgmental comments. He’s all business which is instantly alarming. “We got another body in the next room but before I take you back there,” he scratches at his neck and looks them both over with something serious in his eyes. “We looked into that name you got for us yesterday, Jared. Jacobs. It…well…we think we’re dealing with something big here. We came up with several names but there was a Marlin Jacobs who had some priors in the system and a connection to the Lieb clan.”

“Lieb clan? Like…Like the ones responsible for the double murder last year? The one’s I helped locate a murder weapon for?” Jared asks as his eyes go wide.

“Yeah, those Liebs. As you know, they have been building a stake in the organized crime world and they’re funding it with several loan shark operations. They’ve been making some waves on the police’s radar for years,” he says for Jensen’s benefit. “I sent Klein to talk to Marlin. And…well…it wasn’t pretty. Turns out Mr. Jacobs is into some heavy occult shit, your type of voodoo crap.”

Jensen watches Jared bite his tongue and has no idea how Jared manages to keep composed in the ignorant world that he’s chosen to live in. Jensen knows ‘occult shit’ and ‘voodoo crap’ and Jared? Jared isn’t it. From all he’s learned, there is nothing evil in Jared.

“Well, Jacobs…he…” Danners cuts himself off and shakes his head. “I better show you two.” He turns on his heels and sinks back into the crowd of police officers, leaving Jared and Jensen to follow on their own.

“This can’t be good,” Jensen mumbles before he finds himself chasing after Jared.

They both startle to a halt when they enter a room splattered in so much blood that Jensen questions if there is only one victim. In the center, there is a dismembered arm but the rest of a body’s worth of limbs are scattered around. It’s gruesome and Jensen’s seen worse, but it looks like Jared hasn’t.

Jared cups his mouth with both hands and swallows the bile that’s begun to rise in his throat. He whips his face away from the bloody mess in the middle of the room but there isn’t anywhere he can look that isn’t coated in a slathering of red.

“That’s,” Danners says as he makes a sweeping gesture towards the room with one hand, “what is left of Marlin Jacobs.”

“Jesus,” Jared chokes out. Gears turn in his head before he scurries backwards several steps in panic. “Shit! He…he’s who’s been controlling the poltergeist. He…and he’s dead. He’s dead and we’ve just stepped into a baited trap. That…that… _thing_ …it can attack any of us. They tried to tame a monster and it’s going to unpredictable now that it’s thrown off its chains.”

That gets Jensen’s heart pounding. “God damn it!” He looks around him and thinks everyone other than him and Jared are crazy. No one is reacting, like they don’t realize the weight of Jared’s revolution.

A poltergeist is a force to be reckoned with. A pissed off poltergeist is a death sentence.

He finds himself running out of the house at full speed, shoving people out of his way. The fact that his hands are shaking as he tries to get into the Camaro’s trunk proves how off his game he is. He’s about to go hunting in the middle of a heavy populated area with more at stake than his own life. Everything in the trunk seems helpful and useless at the same time. In his years as a hunter, he’s never felt the looming prospect of failure riding on his coattails. The world around him drowns out and boils down to the pounding in his heart as he loads a shotgun with iron bullets and grabs several satchels of a powdered creation he hopes to god actually works. He’s never tried it and wishes he had better alternatives than bullets in a room full of people but it’s the best he can do.

He’s halfway back to the house when the glass windows blow out and a scream pierces his ears.

He runs faster.

****************

A surge of energy courses through Jared and leaves him feeling violated in every way possible. The poltergeist just used his body as a highway and raped his mind, making Jared gasp for air.

Everything hurts from the inside out, like the poltergeist short-circuited all his nerves and in a way, it did. Jared falls to the floor without the ability to keep his legs under him. His naked palms land in the mess that used to be Marlin Jacobs’ head. There is bile in his throat and everything in his body wants to run away but he’s stuck in the poltergeist’s trap, just where the thing wanted him. It’s in his head and crushing channels of his brain. He can’t breathe for a moment and when he gathers enough power to fight back, he screams louder than he’s ever screamed before. It’s a banshee cry but the poltergeist latches onto it and joins in, the pitch growing so high until everything breaks through the ceiling and explodes through the house.

Jared hears the windows blow out and shards of glass rain down but he sees nothing. He’s worlds away from the house. His hands are covered in dead blood and he’s in the poltergeist’s world now. He hears screaming but all he can focus on is the ice traveling through his veins and stopping his heart in its tracks.

His brain reels through what he’s seeing in his mind’s eye. Jacobs is alive in his vision, scrambling to land a punch on a larger man’s form. They fight but Jacobs doesn’t stand a chance, not by a long shot. The thing is, the man shoots Jacobs in the head but not before Jacobs begs for his life.

_“I didn’t say anything to the police. I swear! Mr. Cutler…please. Don’t…don’t…if you do…you won’t – ” The bullet silences the man and sends him falling backwards._

The man, this Mr. Cutler, killed Marlin Jacobs but didn’t rip him apart. That is all the poltergeist’s doing. Jared watches it happen in fast motion, helpless to do anything about it. He is stuck there watching the creature manifest itself into a humanoid shape and tear the body apart with some type of telekinesis. It’s in a blood rage, classifying it as the most malicious spirit Jared has ever dealt with. Vengeful entities never go down easy and cause more trouble than one can imagine.

Jared feels the creature’s power course through him, raw and unbridled. His body is slammed back into the present day, struggling to keep the thing under control. He has it by the edge of its being, barely able to grasp onto it.

Jared gasps and his eyes roll back in his head when there is a sudden depletion in his ability. He sees his mental fingers losing their grip on the poltergeist and struggles harder. The anger emanating off the spirit makes Jared growl and they go back to having a mental tug-o-war. The wood boards in the house splinter with a loud crack as the house comes apart. Jared has to come back to the world of the living in order to save his own hide and escape a fall through the floorboards. He rolls to his side and lands beside a torn off leg and thinks it feels warm. Further inspection reveals that it’s not Marlin Jacobs’. It’s wearing a police uniform and bleeding freely.

“Fuck!” Jared scrambles on all fours. He’s smeared with blood and feels more trickling down from his nose; he can taste the iron traces to it. Adrenaline makes his world shake and he looks around. The house is complete chaos. People are running away from the bloody mess he’s in the middle of. There’s no one fighting for him but it doesn’t matter; he’s throwing himself back into the fight no matter what.

Licking his lips, he forces his lungs to breathe and work with him. “Come on,” he says to no one in particular. “Come on.” He’s banking on a man he’s just met and hopes Jensen covers his ass because there is no coming back from what he’s about to do, not without backup. He’s never melded himself to a spirit before but he knows how to do it and he’s already set the plan in motion.

Throwing his head back, Jared draws all his power into a growing ball in his mind. It gets too large to hold onto and detonates, making him scream and sending waves of power outward. They distort the air, making it shiver until they collide with a flickering static. The poltergeist’s energy is glowing read, like embers floating in the air but infinitely more powerful.

Jared is lost to it. He feels the wound he inflicted on the spirit but the influx of power leaves him temporarily vulnerable while he recovers. The poltergeist squeezes his whole body in a vice grip, throwing him up against a wall. The pressure around his lungs doesn’t let up and Jared can’t breathe. Still, even though his vision is flickering and panic sets in, Jared doesn’t give up.

He fights like he’s never fought before.

The problem is, the poltergeist is too strong. It’s been growing in power for weeks, been amped up by a necromancer, and has shed buckets of blood.

If the poltergeist goes down, Jared is going down with it. They’re bound to the same plain of existence and one can’t destroy the other without taking the other out. Without something else interfering, they’re stuck. Jared’s okay with that. He’s okay to die for something that no one can sully. He’s saving a lot of people. That’s got to count for something.

The truth is though, he doesn’t want to die. He did but he doesn’t now. He’s hoping that Jensen doesn’t want him to die either because everything is growing dim around the edges and he’s out of tricks.

Through the darkness, he see someone square their footing and aim a shot gun. A bullet wizzes past Jared and lands itself in the wall an inch from his left ear. The poltergeist yowls and the gun goes off again.

The hold on Jared gives out and he tumbles to the ground, enabling him to see Jensen reloading a shot gun.

The gun goes off twice more and Jared only gets snippets of what happens next. He actually feels residual pain from where Jensen shot the poltergeist and has to remind himself that it isn’t real, that he’s okay.

Jensen throws the gun to the ground and does something Jared can’t see with a bag of darkish powder. He growls, upper lip lifting enough to show his upper row of teeth. “Die, mother fucker.” He throws a handful of the powder directly at the force pinning Jared down and chants, “Ultimus liberaberis ad requiem. Mundum vivorum relinque,” in a deep resonating voice. He repeats it several times before everything in the room shakes.

Then, like nothing happened, the world goes quiet. Everything malevolent is zapped out of the room in an instant but it takes the noise of the world several minutes to catch up and come back into focus.

Jared can barely hear a thing and he feels like he is swimming in his own consciousness.

“Hey,” Jensen says as he slaps at Jared’s face in an attempt to get him to focus. “Hey, Jared. Hey!”

Jared’s head lolls forward as he feels himself being hoisted against Jensen’s body. The hunter tips Jared back and Jared’s head lands on Jensen’s shoulder.

“Hey, there you are,” Jensen says with a relieved sigh.

“Yeah, here I am.” Jared chokes out. His eyes flutter closed as he struggles to keep them open. More of the whites show than color.

“Oh no you don’t. Don’t you go passing out on me again.” Jensen goes back to smacking at Jared’s face.

Jared can’t open his eyes but he can smile. It’s a fraction of a curve but it’s all he can manage. He’s alive. Jensen’s alive. And he knows who’s behind the whole thing. He gives a deep breath and it’s all he can muster. He’s done for now.

“Don’t make me carry your ass again,” Jensen says without a hint of heat behind the words. “You stupid son of a bitch, you could have gotten yourself killed.” There is a wash of emotions on Jensen’s face and he licks his lips and lets out a nervous laugh. “You’re…You’re crazy. You’re one tough son of a bitch.”

Then Jared feels like he’s miles above his body and everywhere at once all in the same moment. It’s okay. Jensen came back for him. It doesn’t matter how the end plays out.

************

Jensen feels the tension in Jared’s body go out and the Seer’s head dips back unnaturally. It’s scary enough to send Jensen’s heart in his throat. Thousands of people have died in his arms but not like this, not because they were willing to give their life to fight on the side of the human race. “No, no, no, no, no!” Lowering his cheek to Jared’s lips, no breath hits his cheek. “You asshole! Don’t you dare die.” For the second time in three days, Jensen hoists Jared into his arms, careful to keep his footing as he navigates out of the carnage of the house

No one else in the world exists, even though they’re crowding him and trying to see what’s going on.

He lays Jared flat on his back and tilts his head up to assess the situation. There is blood streaming from his nose, running in rivulets down the sides of his face. He links his hands and crushes them to Jared’s chest, slamming into the Seer in hopes of getting his heart going. He pumps three times and pauses long enough to blow air into the man’s mouth. Nothing happens so he repeats the process, this time it’s more frantic and he doesn’t care if he breaks Jared’s lungs as long as his heart does _something_ in response.

“Fucking breathe, damn it!” Jensen yells as he pumps Jared’s chest again. This time, there’s a reaction.

In the open, with fresh air that doesn’t smell like death, Jared coughs. It’s a violent spasm of his lungs and it sounds wet and ugly. Jensen rolls him onto his side and he coughs up thick chunks of red, blood splattering onto the grass beside his head.

“That’s it. You’re okay,” Jensen comforts. Only, Jensen has no idea if Jared is actually okay. The Seer is breathing, that’s a plus, but he’s not sure what all the blood means.

Jared lets out another sputtering cough, choking on air but eventually getting it to his lungs and his eyes go wide with realization that he’s alive. He looks lost and panicked, clawing at Jensen’s hands while they try to ground him.

“You’re okay,” Jensen repeats. The relief that shoots through him is unexpected and he lets out a wild sounding laugh. “You crazy idiot. You fucking saved everyone? You know that?”

The only response he gets is Jared staring at him, lungs working overtime to catch up on all the time he’s lost while not breathing. “You. Me. Saved my ass.”

Jensen laughs. He fucking smiles because he can’t believe that is the first thing out of Jared’s mouth since he rejoined the world of the living. “Yeah, I saved your ass.”

“Thanks.” Jared’s voice comes out rough as gravel and interrupted by a wheezing cough.

“Padalecki! My god!” Danners yells when he locks his sight on the two men. “What happened in there, Ackles?”

“We killed the damn thing.” Jensen says without looking away from Jared, moving his head and helping him staunch the bleeding. “We sent it back where it belongs, like we should have done days ago…”

Even in his daze, Jared hears Jensen rearing up for a fight and even though Danners deserves it, Jared’s got something he needs to say before unconsciousness takes him and he runs the risk of forgetting everything. “It was Cutler. Alec Cutler. It’s not Lieb. I saw it all. Jacobs double timed Lieb and had a side business with Cutler. He was a loose end…they…they took him out.” The rest of what he says is lost to a fit of coughing and a scramble to stay awake.

Jensen has to commend the Seer for being so committed staying true to his version of justice even after he almost lost his life. Because he respects that, he stays quiet, even though he wants to tell Jared to shut up and focus on nothing more than staying alive.

Danners pulls out a walkie-talkie and clicks it on, “This is Chief Danners. We have officers down at 238 Goldenrod Drive. Two confirmed fatalities and at least five injuries.”

“Roger. Sending backup and ambulances your way now, Sir.”

Jared tenses against Jensen’s hold, looking up towards the hunter with pleading eyes. “No. Hospitals.”

That seems like the worst decision on earth to Jensen but he understands Jared now, at least on a functioning level. He can’t imagine the trauma having a handful of strangers touching Jared and transferring their memories with him will cause the Seer. There are a lot of tools in a hospital that have seen some pretty nasty situations and he shivers at the thought of them in or on Jared, making him crazy from the inside out.

“I’ll take care of him,” Jensen says before he realizes the full weight of what he’s offering.

For a brief second, Danners hesitates. He chews his lip and runs his eyes over the blood. There are no actual wounds on Jared’s body; they’re all inside where the world can’t understand them. Even if he could see them, Danners wouldn’t understand either way. Jared’s been an asset to him in his career but he’s a mystery to the chief and if Jensen is willing to solve that riddle for him, he’s going to choose that option. “You two don’t have to be here.” He licks his lips like he’s debating something and then turns away, barking orders and trying to get a grasp on the situation.

“Come on,” Jensen says as he hoists Jared up. He has no idea what he’s going to do with Jared but he sure as hell isn’t leaving him here. He’s patched himself up in worse situations, he’s sure he can figure something out. “Try not to die in my car.”

Jared actually laughs. It’s weak and pained sounding but it’s there. “I’ll try not to bleed all over it either.”

“I don’t care about the blood. I’ve bled all over the thing. Leather seats. There’s a reason I have them.” Jensen leads the way but Jared’s legs are useless. He ends up carrying most of the Seer’s weight which is almost the most difficult thing he’s done. Jared trying to help is doing Jensen no favors. Instead, it’s making it almost impossible for Jensen to wrangle all 6’4’’ of him into the car. Jensen, however, bites his tongue. Jared’s got his pride and he’d never take that away from a man.

He lets Jared mumble unintelligibly as they drive off but when the words dwindle into silence, Jensen can’t stop himself from pulling over to make sure Jared’s still breathing.

He is.

He’s also breathing the next two times Jensen stops to check.

Jensen knows, however, there’s never been any harm in being thorough.


	7. Break Through

The world swims into focus for Jared. Consciousness hits him hard and he has to gasp to catch up with it.

The first thing he sees when he opens his eyes is Jensen, staring down at him like he’s just as startled by Jared’s awakening.

“Dude, we’ve gotta stop making this ‘you waking up on my couch’ thing a habit.” Jensen says.

“How…” Jared scratches at his head and groans. It feels like a piano fell on his chest and his brain is reforming after being turned to mush. His last memories flicker in and out of focus and he remembers how he got here but he doesn’t exactly know when that was. “How long was I out?”

“A whole day. 24 fucking hours. You had me…” Jensen cuts himself off.

 _Scared_ , Jared finishes for him. Or maybe worried. Either way, Jensen looks like he’s spent the last 24 hours pacing the same spot where he’s standing. He watches the hunter fumble for something and produce a bottle of water.

“Here, figure you must be thirsty. If you didn’t wake up soon I was figuring I’d have to haul your ass to the nearest hospital or you’d die of something much more human than a poltergeist attack.”

Jared gulps down the whole bottle in one swig. The water feels good going down and he sighs when he’s finished. “I’m glad you didn’t. It would have…well…let’s just say it wouldn’t have been pretty.”

“Well, you weren’t looking too pretty earlier so I doubt it would have made much of a difference.” Jensen drags a rickety looking chair towards the couch and sits down. “How are you even awake right now? After what I saw…”

“To be honest with you?” Jared says as he tries to push off the couch. He decides against it and rolls onto his side to face the hunter, twisting in his clothing, clothing that is clean and free of blood. He’s thankful for that. “I have no idea. It’s like…It’s like whatever the poltergeist drained from me is filtering back into place.”

“Jared, you died.”

The seriousness in Jensen’s tone startles Jared. It’s one thing to suspect that, but another to hear it out loud.

“Yeah, but you saved me. You…” Licking his lips, Jared feels like closing his eyes again but there are so many things he wants to let Jensen know. “It – the poltergeist – would have taken me down with it. You…you saved me. I don’t deserve that.”

“Christ, Jared!” Jensen slams a fist to the chair’s arm and the whole structure rattles. “This whole self-sacrificial thing? You’re better than that. I saw what you can do. Even I can see that you should care more about yourself. Whatever people think…whatever your mother thought…You’re…you’re _good_ Jared.”

 _Good_. Jared’s good. He holds onto that and lets his eyes flutter closed.

He wakes up again and it’s dark in the room.

His head is pounding when he can open his eyes enough to see straight, there’s a bottle of Ibuprofen and water directly in his line of vision. He swallows down four and drains the water, wiping his mouth with the back of his hand.

The door behind him creaks open and heavy footfalls alert Jared to the fact that he’s not alone anymore.

“Oh, hey, you’re up again,” comes Jensen’s voice.

“Yeah. Sorta.” Jared struggles to sit up and gasps. “Oh god, what the hell happened to me?” He winces and wraps his arms around his chest.

“The poltergeist used your chest as a stress ball and then I went to town on your lungs doing CPR.” Jensen plops down on the floor in front of the couch, a plastic bag carefully set out between them. “I got you food. You gotta eat.”

“I don’t really feel hungry.”

“Don’t care. Eat.” Jensen pulls out a takeout container full of soup and passes it to Jared. “It’s Wonton, my dad swore by it. Always made me feel better.”

Jared wrinkles his nose. He’s never liked Chinese soups but he’s afraid to let Jensen know that. Taking the soup, he foregoes the spoon and sips the broth directly from the container. It’s actually good, warm and soothing as it trickles down his bruised throat. “Thanks.”

“Welcome.” Jensen shrugs like keeping Jared alive for the last two days is no big deal before pulling out a carton of Lo Mein and picking at it. “Chinese food. Another thing that never changes regardless of what town I’m in.”

“Do you have a home?” Jared asks after another loud slurp.

“Nah. Haven’t had one for a long time.”

A sad exhale leaves Jared’s throat as he considers that. “It’s not all it’s cracked up to be.” As much as Jared has enjoyed being in one place, he’s never felt at home there. He hasn’t made any lasting connections other than Kelly and the reputation for being weird.

“I dunno…seems pretty good here,” Jensen says through a mouthful of noodles. “And your guard dog called seventeen times.”

“Kelly?”

“Yeah. Don’t worry, she made me promise to take good care of you and didn’t hang up until she thoroughly threatened my life several times. I can’t blame her for being worried…she’s…she’s just worried about you.”

“She thinks you’re an asshole.” Jared says and busies himself with eating so he doesn’t have to clarify that.

“Well, she’s right. I am. My life? It’s easier that way. I get in, get out, do what I have to do. It’s easier not to miss me if you’re wanting me gone most of the time.” Jensen shrugs. “Think your stomach can handle and egg roll?”

“I think so.” He catches the fried snack, glad he didn’t make a fool out of himself and let it smack him in the face. Inside, he’s confused at the person he’s staring at. Days ago he couldn’t have pictured this softer side of Jensen but now that he’s got a front row seat, he has no idea how he didn’t know it was underneath. He accredits it to the fact that Jensen is actually the first person Jared has to put some effort into figuring out. It’s trial and error and he’s not sure what move he should make next.

“My brother – Josh – and I used to do this.” Jensen laughs. “We’d ordered enough Chinese food to feed an army. The guy at the restaurant used to give us six sets of utensils and fortune cookies like we were sharing with as many people. We’d laugh every time. Then we’d eat all of it. Sometimes we’d save stuff for dad, but usually all he got was a dried out carton of white rice and a cold eggroll.” Closing his eyes, he shakes his head and chuckles softly at the memory. “God, feels good to do it again. It’s been years.”

Only then does Jared realize Jensen has supplied them with enough Chinese food to support them for days. His eyes go wide because there is no way on earth his stomach can handle eating much at this point but Jensen’s busy devouring three different containers intermittently. Something in his gut makes him ask for a carton. “Got anymore Lo Mein?”

A smile breaks out on Jensen’s face. It’s exactly the reaction Jared was hoping for.

“Yeah!” Opening several containers to verify their contents, Jensen passes Jared pork Lo Mein with a fork stuck in it. “I’ve got lots of other stuff too.”

“Thanks.” Jared takes a forkful. It’s not his favorite it’s practically the best thing he’s ever eaten because it’s laced with concern and care. “Mmm, it’s good.” He gets another smile out of Jensen and they eat in silence for a while, the only sounds breaking through being slurping and chewing.

“So,” Jensen starts before pausing to give a loud swallow. “How’d you get into working for Danners and everything?”

“Not much to tell there. I moved here when I was eighteen. I started making a living working as a psychic with some people in town but…I’m not really psychic. Not in the way that people were looking for. I can tell the past if I’ve got something to feed off of but the future is totally lost to me. A client figured out what I could do and suggested I put ads up for people who needed closure or answers after a loved one passed. I figured out an old woman was accidentally killed by her home health aide and the client had the police investigate it. Turns out, the police officer on the case was Danners. He wasn’t chief then. He got all the credit, I did all the grunt work. Years later, Danners made Police Chief and I’m still doing his leg work. Doesn’t matter though. The credit isn’t why I do it. I help people. That’s all that matters to me.”

Jensen laughs to himself and pops a dumpling in his mouth.

“What?”

“Nothing. You’re just…you’re kind of like a saint. You know that?”

“Definitely not a saint, Jensen.” Jared shakes his head and sighs. “But thanks for thinking so.” He’s not exactly sure what to ask. He knows why Jensen hunts and severs connections, he’s not sure where their conversation should flow so he goes back to what Jensen knows best. “Hey, what was that stuff? The stuff you blew at me back in the house.”

“It was a combination of powdered Angelica Root, Van Van oil, sand, lemon peel, sage and rosemary. It purifies the house. I…I wasn’t sure it was going to work. It, along with the iron bullets, weakened the poltergeist enough to kill it.” Jensen licks a stray stain of sauce from the corner of his lips. “I’m glad it did…you know, work.”

“Me too.” Jared’s whole face lights up with how much he means that.

They both know they’re happy with how things turned out but it’s one thing to know and another to admit it. The tension that falls between them is awkward.

“So…you’re feeling okay?” Jensen hesitates.

“Yeah. I mean…it sounds crazy but…I feel great. I mean…I hurt but hurting means I’m alive so I’ll take hurting over _not_ hurting right now.” Jared runs a hand through his hair and sets his container on the ground. “Thanks, Jensen. For saving me. For not taking me to a hospital. For dealing with Kelly and still finding the courage to take care of me.” He reaches out and touches Jensen on the shoulder. It’s the exact opposite of any normal gesture Jared was default on. But when he hits the solid warmth of Jensen electricity streams through his veins more powerfully than his blood.

They both feel it and the funny thing is, it has nothing to do with Jared’s abilities. It’s real. It’s human and Jared can’t move his fingers away from where they’re curling around Jensen’s shoulder on their own accord.

Jensen doesn’t shove him off. Instead, he looks down at Jared’s hand in curiosity. “You’ve never really done that before, huh?”

“No,” Jared answers honestly and without hesitation. “Not since…well…not since my mom and she went and killed herself so…there’s that.”

Licking his lips, Jensen reaches up and covers Jared’s hand with his own. He guides it under the neck of his shirt and against his collar bone, lending the gesture to more skin on skin contact.

Jared gets greedy and slips his hand further, catching himself with a gasp. “Sorry!”

“It’s okay.” Shuffling closer on his knees, Jensen puts a palm on each of Jared’s knees and spreads them so he can situate himself between them. Rising up, Jensen stays on his knees but his eyes aren’t much lower than Jared’s. He grabs the hem of his shirt and pulls it over his head. “It’s okay.”

Jared swallows thickly, heart picking up a rabbit’s pace. He wants to refuse the offer but it’s too tempting, his hands go flat against Jensen’s chest and he gives a thrilled laugh under his breath. He can feel Jensen’s heart thumping away under the skin and muscle.

He’s been so touch deprived that every little twitch of Jensen’s muscles makes his heart speed up and a bubble of excitement breaks on the surface of his mind. “Jensen, I…we…” He shuts off the voice in his head, grabs Jensen’s face with both hands, rubs his thumbs along the ridges near the corners of his mouth, and kisses him silly. He pulls him closer, slipping his tongue between the hunter’s lips and wants to shout in victory when he feels Jensen kissing him back just as forcefully.

In an instant, Chinese food is kicked over and their hands are tugging at each other.

Jared’s shirt ends up joining Jensen’s on the ground before they’re both on their feet, nipping and kissing each other’s mouths. Jared’s touch memory flashes him back to Jensen’s lips on his own while he was breathing life back into him. He wishes there was a way to fill his own kisses with that much power but all Jared’s got is his desire and utter gratitude and maybe that’s enough.

Jensen moans and yanks Jared closer, pressing their chests together. They stumble backwards, landing Jared on the bed and Jensen to stare down at him. There is a moment of awkwardness, where they can’t break each other’s gaze. Jensen’s showing more confidence than Jared when he strips off his pants and boxers, standing there nude and powerful.

Breath hitching, Jared can’t believe what he’s looking at. He blushes even though he’s seen a lot of Jensen. They both have.

While drunk, the night they had together is burned into Jared’s memory. He wants that night all over again and more but he’s terrified because this moment proves to be more intense and serious.

Jensen crawls onto his bed, kissing Jared’s chest and dragging his lips over the bruises that bloomed there.

It doesn’t hurt but Jared gasps. He practically purrs as Jensen’s lips repeat the process. His breath catches again when Jensen’s hands tug at the waist of his pants and shimmy them down. He aids Jensen but lifting his hips so he’s soon joining Jensen in shared nudity.

It’s dark in the room but Jared can see hunger in Jensen’s eyes and it makes Jared feel more alive than CPR or oxygen could ever make Jared feel. It gives Jared a jolt of adrenaline and he’s never been so bold in his life than when he reaches down and pulls Jensen’s face up so that it hovers above his. They stare at each other while breathing raggedly, the excitement of the moment heightening everything. Their noses bump clumsily before they start kissing again.

Jared’s sure it’s awkward but he can’t help but keep his eyes open for a moment longer. He watches Jensen’s lashes flutter closed but he’s still fixed on the hunter’s handsome face in disbelief. Most of his brain can’t believe that this is happening.

Weeks, months, even years ago, Jared never understood the draw of such physical attraction and connection. It had never felt good and always came with something startling. But this? This is titillating.

The best part, though, is that Jensen’s keening for just as much as Jared is. It’s evident in the way he moans and how he pushes when Jared pulls, and backs down when Jared gets eager and almost suffocates him with deep kisses and bruising suckling to his neck. And when Jared wants, wants, _wants_ , Jensen flips the tables and starts taking all on his own.

They’re evenly matched. Like flip sides of the same coin.

They don’t need to fight for control. They just know when to give it and when to take it.

Their kisses vary from wet and mess, to slow and sensual. It’s a mess of everything Jared’s never experienced but he’s getting a crash course in it now.

Their bodies slot together, skin contact setting them on fire.

“I want you,” Jared mumbles near Jensen’s ear. “Would you have me? A freak?” He drags a kiss over Jensen’s lips.

“No. Not a freak.” Jensen says as he pulls away. He holds Jared’s face still so that the Seer has to look at him. “But you? The person I saw risk his life for a group of assholes who are too ignorant to give you the respect you deserve? Yes.” Jensen kisses him roughing, growling when he pulls away, catching Jared’s bottom lip in his teeth and tugging gently. “Fuck, Jared. You? Yes.”

Jared watches the lust flood Jensen’s eyes and he likes him better this way. He likes when Jensen’s muscles are being used to roll him around on the bed rather than fighting off spirits. He likes the way his words are deep and sensual and hit him right in the groin rather than sarcastic and defensive.

He swoons and becomes puddle on the bed as Jensen crawls over him and kisses the happy smile on Jared’s face.

“You sure it’s okay?” Jensen asks. “I mean…you died…remember?”

“But I’m not now and I can’t think of a better way to celebrate being alive.” A bundle of nerves unleashes itself in Jared’s belly and he whispers, “please.”

Jensen gets with the program. For the first time tonight his hand lands itself on Jared’s growing erection and makes sure it stays that way. His body is all in this but there is something in his eyes that keeps flooding to the surface and Jared can’t live with that. “What?” he asks with a jut of his chin against Jensen’s cheek.

“Have you done this before? I mean…you can’t touch people…and…”

Jared feels the heat rising in his cheeks and he fights through it. “No…I…I mean…yeah but it was a mess and…well, it’s kind of hard to keep it up when your being treated to a double feature of someone’s grandma dying and how they used to pick their nose when they were a kid…so…I mean…” Clearing his throat, Jared shakes his head. “Condoms only block some of the connection so it gets complicated and…” He buries his face in the pillow and snorts. He feels completely pathetic for having this conversation with such a gorgeous man between his legs and pre come leaking on his belly.

“Hey, it’s okay. I just wanted to know…because…” he makes a weird gesture with his hips.

Jared gets it even though he’s never _gotten_ it. “Bottom. I’ve never…I have no idea what the kind of connection topping requires would do to me. It’s…I think it’d just short circuit me and I…”

Thankfully, Jensen shuts him up with a kiss. “Let’s find out. All of it.” He drops another nip of a kiss to Jared’s lips. “Let’s find out. Let’s short circuit every wire in your brain and throw the switch on the fuse box.” He scoots downward and moves in fast motion, flipping Jared’s legs over his shoulders and landing Jared completely flat on his back. His hands are on Jared’s body, grounding him again.

Jared’s head explodes with everything that’s happening. He looks down to see Jensen kissing the thatch of dark hair surrounding Jared’s rock hard dick and then kiss upward. He drags his lips across the flesh there, taking his time and making Jared feel like he is going to burst out of his skin with the need to get more contact. It’s hard but completely worth it when Jared controls himself enough to savor every little detail. He watches Jensen’s pink lips wrap around the head of his cock, sucking and licking till Jared bucks up. He feels like he’s going crazy. His nerves are on fire and it’s better than anything he ever thought another person could do to him.

Jensen’s tongue doesn’t stop. It’s just as thorough as its owner. It licks and laps and curls its way along the organ so that it swipes away the pre come there and then swallows him down whole again. He does it all while looking directly into Jared’s eyes so that there’s no question as to who’s in control for the time being.

He’s the hunter and Jared is happy to be his prey. The irony of that statement doesn’t escape the Seer and he lets out a laugh, turning it into a moan as the tip of his dick brushes the back of Jensen’s throat.

“Holy shit!”

Jensen hums at that, getting another pulse of pre come from Jared’s dick.

It’s weird because as amazing as this feels, Jared wonders what it would feel like to have Jensen’s dick in his mouth. He wouldn’t be distracted. He’d be focused, determined in making Jensen feel as good as the hunter is making him feel right now.

But that’s for another time, if Jared’s lucky, because right now Jared is too lost to the feeling that he grabs onto Jensen’s head and guides the man’s motions. Biting his lip, he tries not to cry out because he’s not sure exactly what he’s going to say.

Jensen doesn’t seem to like that fact because he does something magical with his tongue and suction and Jared becomes a babbling mess on the bed.

“Ohhmygod! Don’tstop!” Fingers knotting in Jensen’s hair, Jared throws his head back and starts breathing heavily.

There is a pleased snort coming from between Jared’s thighs but Jensen does actually stop. He pulls off with a pop and nips at the juncture between the Seer’s hip and thigh before pushing Jared’s left leg up and fitting his fingers over the cleft of his ass. Smirking at Jared, he looks predatory. “Then I guess no one’s ever done this.”

There is no time for Jared to ask Jensen to clarify. He feels the hunter’s tongue sweeps over the furled hole between Jared’s ass cheeks.

Jared practically jolts off the bed at the feeling of someone touching him in such an intimate place. It’s more intense and private than any sexual act Jared’s ever fanaticized about and he never thought he’d have another man, let alone someone like Jensen, eating his ass out. “Fuck, Jensen, you don’t have to.” It’s stupid to say but he’d rather Jensen jump on this weird train of denial so that they both don’t feel bad if this thing between them fizzles out and dies before the day breaks.

Jensen, lips wet and shiny, looks up and the younger man. “I want to.” He kisses the inside of Jared’s thigh, closing his eyes and moaning as he drags his lips across it. “You have no idea, do you? When I touch you…you come alive. You light up. It’s like nothing – no one – I’ve ever seen. And when you touch me? God…it’s….” He gives another nip and drag to Jared’s thigh until the Seer shivers. “I’m so fucking hard right now, Jared.”

The words go straight to Jared’s dick and he comes the moment Jensen’s tongue nudges at his anus again.

The orgasm is amazing. It hits him in waves that make him white out and fist the bed so hard he thinks his fingers are tearing holes into the sheets. Jensen works him through it, licking gently before tugging at the rim of his hole with the tip of his tongue and wiggling inside. Jared pushes his head deeper, grinding against the man’s face and holding his legs as open as he can so that Jensen can have all of him.

It’s mind-blowing and it’s not even all that Jensen has planned. Jensen’s mouth feels so hot on his opening and Jared pants and gasps, trying to figure out a way to keep breathing over the onslaught of pleasure hitting him at every angle. He cries out, a hoarse shout of pleasure that bounces off the walls.

Coming back from his climax is a slow and pleasurable journey. He feels too blissed out to do much more than lie there, boneless. Jensen doesn’t seem to mind. He’s dry humping the bed slightly, rocking forward and pressing into Jared’s hole. It’s drawn out but he starts spreading Jared open. Slicking him up and massaging the rim so that it willingly lets him in and when it does, he caresses the insides there.

Jared feels like he’s floating.

He’s had things – toys – inside him and he’s used to being full but there’s something else there when Jensen slides a spit slick finger inside him. It’s animate and fully intent in getting Jared’s head and dick back in the game.

It takes three full fingers and locating his prostate to do so. Jared’s able to see through the fog of his pleasure and latch onto a thought that had been building in his mind for far too long. As much as he loves being trapped in Jensen’s hold and feeling nothing but the physical, he needs to find something more. He needs to make a move now before his brain melts and Jensen really does short circuit everything.

“I wanna ride you. Can I?”

That idea, Jensen likes. He moans against Jared’s sensitive skin and sits back on his heels, wiping his lips with the back of his hand. “You sure?”

“Does it look like I’m sure?” Jared says as he fists his returning arousal.

Jensen flips them, landing himself on bed with Jared crashing into his chest. They kiss, sloppy and desperate and Jared finally gets his hands on Jensen’s dick. It’s hard and weeping, making Jared feel a bit selfish for neglecting it for as long as he has. He’s going to have to make that up to Jensen.

It’s a bit of a struggle to untangle their limbs and pull his lips away from Jensen’s long enough to focus but Jared finds a way to straddle Jensen’s hips. The hunter slides up towards the headboard, leaving him in a semi-sitting position with Jared gripping his hips with two strong thighs.

“I never…never did this so…” Jared swallows nervously.

“We’ll go slow.”

Jared nods. He gets his hands on Jensen and steadies his nerves. “I wanna…wanna have you inside me like this…so I can touch and…”

“I get it.” Jensen grabs Jared’s waist and lifts his hips enough for the Seer to get the point.

There is a condom produced and Jared fumbles for a second, pushing up on his knees enough to figure out what to do with Jensen’s dick. Thankfully, the hunter holds his own length steady so Jared can roll the rubber over it and sink down on it.

Once his weight drops enough, the head of Jensen’s cock slips inside and Jared hisses. It’s from shock more than pain. He’s never been in control of something like this and it’s amazing. His head spins and he ends up impaling himself fully in one purposeful drop of his hips.

“Holy, fuck!” Jensen growls and digs his fingers into Jared’s hips. He shivers and reflexively bucks up into Jared, making the man yelp. “Sorry…I…”

“‘s good,” Jared breathes out. And it is. It’s good and hurts enough to make him remember that it’s real and that Jensen really is sheathed inside him. He inhales deeply, lungs hitching as he shivers and rolls his hips experimentally.

“God, Jared…you’re…. _tiiight_.”

They stay like that for a frozen moment in time until the need to explore their new position nags at Jared. He lifts up a fraction and sinks back down. Jensen seems to like it because his exhales turn breathy and his eyes flutter closed. They shoot open suddenly when Jared tilts backwards towards Jensen’s knees.

“Whoa!” Jensen grabs Jared’s hips and brings him forward, keeping their hips connected and forcing the Seer into a 45° angle towards his body. “Careful. It’s not a joystick…it…it doesn’t go that way.”

“Sorry!”

“It’s okay.” Jensen noses at Jared’s neck and his exhale coasts across the skin and makes the Seer shiver. “It’s okay. Now kiss me.”

Jared does, bringing up both hands to cup Jensen’s jaw. He feels the hunter’s hands on his hips, guiding his movements and helping him set a steady pace of lifting and lowering them, making the fiction build between them. Once Jared gets the hang of it, Jensen starts to remove them to leave Jared to his own devices. “No!” The Seer covers Jensen’s hands and keeps them curled around his hips. “Don’t…I…I like it.”

Jensen doesn’t protest. He continues to aid Jared and lets out a groan of pleasure.

Jared loves it. He feels like he’s drowning in Jensen’s touch. He craves the connection. Needs it to survive. Every touch of Jensen’s hands feels like it is burning into him and becoming part of his core. They’re burning into him and will be a part of him forever. Desperate for a deeper connection, Jared slams his hands up against Jensen’s chest, feeling the slip and slide of sweat as they move together.

Jared’s riding Jensen but he’s giving Jared a run for his money. The hunter shifts his pelvis upwards and his dick buries to the hilt, brushing at Jared’s prostate and they both cry out.

Jared feels so full. Jensen’s thick and every time Jared lifts up to feel the rim of his entrance drag up along the rigid organ, his eyes roll back in pleasure.

They keep their hands on each other, grasping for contact and the orgasm that’s happening even if they black out. There is no coming back from what they’ve unleashed with each hurried slap of skin.

“I’mma…I’mma…” Jared starts panting and can’t stop himself. His pace spirals out of control and animalistic nature takes over. Their eyes bore into one another’s, Jensen’s stormy and dark and Jared’s blown wide.

Closing his eyes, Jared feels Jensen’s cock head hit something deep inside him that no one has ever been allowed to come in contact with. His muscles flutter and he pitches forward, hands still on Jensen’s chest but his elbows bent so that he can bury his face in the hunter’s neck and scramble for breath.

“Fuck!” Jensen tenses up, hips raising and trying to bury himself in Jared. He keeps Jared’s hips slammed down and rolls up, grinding into him. “Coming!”

Jared feels it. He doesn’t feel it in a logical sense but he feels the ways Jensen’s muscles go tight and then spasm like he’s shooting everything they’ve built up into the confines of the condom. He feels heat spreading inside of him and he gasps, grabbing at his ability to hold everything together. It falls through his fingers and he arches his back, spurts of come shooting onto Jensen’s belly as another orgasm seizes him.

He’s frozen like that as waves keep crashing into him and pulsing more pleasure out of him in messy smears.

Jensen breathes heavily in his ear when he slumps forward and falls like a dead weight against the hunter’s chest.

Out of all the things that have happened to him over the past weeks, this is the most unbelievable for him. It’s not that he’s fought off death and won or that he should be able to function enough right now to have not one but two orgasms but the fact that Jensen is panting under him, bringing two arms up to keep their bodies together despite the heat in the room.

It’s hard to breath but it doesn’t matter.

Jared thinks Jensen finally gets it. Touching like this makes up for all the discomfort in the world.

“Wow.” Jensen lets out in a huff.

Jared wants to say something smooth and confident but what comes out is a shaky, “was that okay?”

“More than.” Jensen groans as he pinches the base of the condom and helps Jared pull off. They both hiss but Jared’s more than happy to overlook the loss of having Jensen inside of him when the hunter lets him settle snuggly under his arm. “I can’t believe you came untouched.”

Jared gives the older man a confused look. He came anything _but_ untouched. He was surrounded by Jensen, inhaling him and soaking him in. They were gripping each other with hands, mouths, and their hips. He was touched in every way he can think of. “Untouched? I think I have bruises where your fingers were digging into my hips.”

Jensen laughs, deep and throaty. “That’s…that’s not what I mean,” he laughs out as he drags his eyes down to Jared’s spent dick and back up to his eyes.

“Oh!” Jared pulls back at his own innocence. “That type of _touched_.” Biting his lip, he gives Jensen a sly look. “Well… you know…”

“Yeah, I know,” Jensen says and threads his hand through Jared’s sweat slick hair to let him know that he does.

Turning on his side, Jared crawls his hands up Jensen’s spine and tugs them down to the bed. His movements are clumsier than they should be and he’s slightly alarmed by that but considering what he’s been through, he’d say he’s holding up okay. The yawn he lets out is an obvious effort on his body, sending a tremor through him.

Jensen doesn’t miss it. He twists his own body, leaving their noses almost brushing. “What’s wrong?”

“Sleep now,” Jared mumbles. “Talk about my problems later, ‘kay?” Avoidance isn’t usually Jared’s thing but he’s happy and sated. He needs to hold onto that for now.

Thankfully, Jensen does too.


	8. Seeing

Sitting on a barstool in front of a woman who he’s not too sure about isn’t exactly the way he wants to spend his day but he’s here for some godforsaken reason.

Actually, he does know why he’s there.

It has something to do with the extremely powerful Seer seated next to him with hair long enough to fall in his face and hide the adorable furtive glances he keeps throwing Jensen’s way.

Besides, he owes it to the man. They’ve saved each other’s asses more than once and in several different ways.

Jensen also realizes that he likes the man. Jared gets him in a way no one has since Josh and his father. He’s broken too, but in different ways and they fit together even though it’s messy and not at all what he was looking for in life.

“To us!” Jared says, and holds a neat glass of whiskey up towards Jensen.

Jensen clinks his own whiskey against the Seer’s and smirks. “To us and putting those mother fucking poltergeists to sleep.”

“And solving the case,” Jared adds.

Jensen smiles. “And putting Carver away for a long time.”

“And making Danners shit his pants when Carver almost popped him before his arrest.”

“I’ll drink to that.” Jensen kicks back a long swig of the whiskey, letting out a satisfied sigh and smiling at the Seer again. “And to you getting some recognition for being the real hero in this situation.” He raises his glass in the air again and drinks. He gets a smile out of Jared, dimples breaking through and making Jensen’s heart warm.

The past week has been a blur.

He and Jared have spent more time together than apart, although most of it has been with clothing. Jared’s been weak but Jensen can tell that he’s getting better. That’s not to say that they haven’t ended up naked and in a tangled mess of limbs on more than one occasion.

It’s not Jensen’s fault. He’s been living by the idea that nothing cures one’s ails than wonton soup and orgasms and he’s made sure Jared’s been kept in plentiful supply.

He has no idea where things are going between them but for the moment, he doesn’t care.

He’s having a simple drink with a complicated friend and it’s not making him want to burn every bridge that he’s ever crossed.

Jared breaks his thoughts by shoving his own drink in his face again. “To you,” he murmurs with a mischievous smile.

“What I do?” Jensen asks innocently.

Jared shoots him a “you know” look and rolls his eyes. “Shut up and drink.” He elbows Jensen in the ribs.

“Okay, _fine_.” Jensen knocks back the rest of his drink and slams the glass on the bar. He looks up at Kelly, standing in front of him with her hand on his hip and holding the whiskey bottle on lock down.

Jared shoots his friend a look. “Come on, Kel. We’ve only had one drink!”

“Jared,” Kelly leans forward, resting her elbows on the bar, “sweetie, I’m just…God, I’m worried about you. I mean…last week you were…were…were…”

No one finishes the sentence but they all know where she’s going with it.

Jared’s got his gloves back on like he tends to when he’s around more people than just Jensen and he cups Kelly’s cheeks. “Kel, I appreciate it. I do.” He smiles warmly. “You know I love you, right?”

“Yeah. I know. Love you to.” She blows him a kiss and relents by pouring two more glasses for the men.

“Thank you.” Jared says with a bob of his head. “I’m gonna hit the head. I’ll be right back.” He gives both Kelly and Jensen a smile and slides off the barstool.

Jensen freezes up. Usually when faced with a woman he’s sensing is on the edge of a bitch-fit, he high tails it out of the place. That’s not an option this time. He’s pretty sure it wouldn’t go over well with the man he’s fucking and it will not earn him any points with said man’s best friend. They’d just been in the police precinct crossing some “t”s and dotting some “i”s. It really is cause for celebration because Jared’s and Jensen’s parts in the whole case are over and they can move on from everything.

He looks up at Kelly and she’s chewing on the inside of her cheek. She looks like she’s going to stare daggers at Jensen but she opens her mouth and says, “thank you.”

“What?” The shock is dripping off Jensen’s reaction and his eyes go wide.

“You’re an asshole for what you said to Jared but…he’d be dead without you. You…” She lets out a deep breath and her eyes are earnest and grateful. “Thank you. Whatever you are…whatever you’ve done…I’m sorry I judged you.” Her voice goes up in pitch at the end.

“Why do I feel a ‘but’ coming on?” Jensen says with a raised eyebrow, voice gruff with amusement.

“But, if you hurt him, I swear to God that not even a hunter of your caliber would be able to keep you safe.”

Jensen highly doubts that but he stifles the snicker rising in his throat. “Noted.”

“I mean it,” Kelly says as she crosses her arms over her chest.

It’s not a scary threat and Jensen thinks it’s sweet that Jared has a person who cares about him like Kelly does. “I know you do.”

They land themselves at and awkward standoff.

Kelly draws first. “What do you want with him?”

“Honestly?”

“Honestly.”

“I have no idea. I…” He gives a sad smile and looks down at the wood grain sprawling out across the bar. “I wish I did. I wish I could see where things were going but…my life is unpredictable.” He locks eyes with Kelly and nods his head once. “But I can promise you, I’m not going to do anything to hurt him that he isn’t on board with. That’s all I can offer.”

Kelly considers this with a drawn out hum. “I guess…I guess that’s all I can ask of you.” She pours herself a drink, and thinks out loud. “See, ‘cause Jared likes you. And you aren’t bad on the eyes – ”

“Thanks.” Jensen says smugly, cutting her off before she can offer another “but”.

“Hey, don’t let it go to your head.” She raises her glass and gets a clink out of Jensen.

They both drink, which is how Jared finds them when he returns, looking between the two of them like the world just spun on its axis and everything is flipped on its head. “What’d I miss?”

“Well, let’s see. Kelly here thanked me for saving your ass, then threatened my ass if I hurt you, then told me I have a pretty nice ass.” He puffs himself up when he gets a gasp from both the bartender and the Seer and turns his smug self towards the woman. “That about it?” he asks Kelly.

“Yeah, I think that about sums it up.” Kelly answers with a smirk and clinks her glass against Jensen’s again, drinking with one raised eyebrow towards the hunter. Someone calls her and she holds up one finger towards them. “Excuse me.” Before she turns to go she points to first Jared then Jensen. “Next round is on me.”

“I think I like her,” Jensen says and it’s more the truth and he’d expected.

“Yeah, me too.” Jared runs a hand through his hair shuffles his stool closer to Jensen. “You know,” he ponders aloud, “we make a good team. A Seer and a hunter. We…we’re better when we play for the same side.”

A month ago, Jensen would have bit his tongue off if he was about to utter the response building in his brain. But a month ago he hadn’t met Jared and let the man blow every stereotype about Seers out of the water. He’d exposed Jensen to a world he couldn’t have possibly understand from the outside and he’s man enough to admit that he was wrong. Most of Jensen’s hunting life has been learned through hands on practice and this case with Jared is no exception. It’s complicated, though. His time in Austin is ticking down so loudly that it’s hard to think straight and he’s man enough to admit that there’s nothing wrong with his throat. The prospect of leaving is choking him up so he stares at his glass and hopes it does something to dull that feeling. “Yeah. We’re a good team.”

They can both drink to that.

****************

The problem with being able to see the past is that it doesn’t come with viable evidence to actually use in a police case.

Mostly, Jared is considered a consultant.

What he finds out can be used by detectives and officers to investigate further and search out tangible evidence or probable cause for a warrant.

In most cases, the information Jared finds due to his abilities leads to helpful clues for law enforcement. Sometimes, Jared has to give a statement, sometimes he doesn’t.

Today the police want a statement about what went down during the supernatural explosion of the house they found Marlin Jacobs in.

It’s an easy black and white job.

Most of the people taking the statement were on the scene and can vouch for exactly what Jared is saying.

Still, unsettling shivers run through him. He’s asked Kelly to come with him. It’s her day off and she’s willing to drive him.

She’s waiting for him when he’s done, legs crossed and bouncing nervously. She jumps to her feet when she sees her friend. “You okay?” Even though she rushes him, she knows well enough to keep a safe distance.

Jared frowns. Now that he knows what touching someone is like from a normal person’s point of view, Jared feels sad for his friend. He assumes it must be difficult for her but he loves her all the more for never making it a big deal. “Yeah, I’m good. I’ve done that a thousand times.”

“That’s not what I mean.” Kelly says with a stern look.

“Oh, that.” Jared shrugs. He’s known for a while that Jensen was going to be hauling out of town but it still makes him feel like breaking down. Once the case was solved, Danners made sure payments on Jensen’s hotel room came to a stop. Without cash flow, Jensen managed to explain through avoidant glares that he’d have to move on for more work. Jared feels foolish for being so knotted up about that. He has no ties to Jensen and Jensen owes him nothing. They’ve tried their best not to let whatever they’d been doing get messy but the swarm of emotions going off in Jared’s head proves that they’ve failed at keeping their strings from attaching. It hurts. There is a world of uncertainty around them and parting ways was always the endgame so he figures he’ll get over it even if it’s the worst hurt he’s had yet. Sighing at Kelly, he looks like he just got kicked in the gut. “Yeah, I’m good.”

They break out into the warm sun and it’s easier to breathe.

It’s lunch time and several of the officers Jared’s worked with are littering the picnic benches or holding up the side of the building. Klein is animatedly telling a story to Costa and even Danners is taking advantage of the weather.

They walk in silence until a blur of a car takes the curve of the parking lot entrance at top speed and spins out with a screeching halt in front of them. Even at top speed, Jared could tell it’s Jensen’s Camaro. He’s never seen a car like that and probably won’t ever again.

The driver’s side door creakes open and Jensen pulls himself out, leaning on the car’s frame for a second before sauntering towards the Seer. He’s wearing worn jeans that seem like they’re molded to his body and a dusty beaten down leather coat that seems too out of place for the heat of the day but makes perfect sense for Jensen.

Jared’s throat goes dry, and he licks his lips but it doesn’t do much.

“Hey,” Jensen lets out through a sideways smirk.

“Hey.”

“So…” The tip of Jensen’s tongue peaks out of his lips, curving up for a brief second before disappearing and leaving Jensen to look as hard as he did moments ago. “I was thinking…I’ve got a case over in Kansas. It’s a hoard of ghouls that no one has been able to get rid of. The thing is… there’s a lot of them. The job is offering a big payout and they’re offering to pay for back up. They said I could bring in my own people.” He shifts closer to Jared, nerves finally breaking through and cracking the confidence he’s been trying to hold onto. “You’re my people.”

“I’m ‘your people’?”

“Yeah, you’re my people.”

Jared is speechless. He’s certain he’s supposed to say something but his brain is firing blanks. All he’s got is dumbly restating Jensen’s words. “You want me to come with you?”

“Yeah.”

“Yeah?”

“Are you just going to repeat everything I say to you as a question?” Jensen scratches the back of his neck anxiously.

Options flicker through Jared’s brain in a jumbled up mish mosh. He has a home here but it isn’t much. He’s got Kelly but…. he’s felt more alive and useful over the past month than he has in his entire life. He grabs onto the thought and tries to bundle up every ounce of bravery that he has.

In front of everyone, with the engine in Jensen’s car making sure everyone is looking at them, Jared launches himself at Jensen. Their lips meet with a clash of teeth before Jensen stops them from stumbling backwards and meets his kiss with as much passion.

Cupping Jared’s cheeks, Jensen pulls away enough to murmur, “Is that a yes?”

“Yeah.” Jared says with a smile.

“Yeah?” Whatever façade of confidence and manliness that Jensen’s been putting on gives way to a giant smile on Jensen’s face, bordering on the edge of being goofy.

Jared nods and gasps when Jensen flips them so that the Seer is pinned up against the car and vulnerable against Jensen’s lips when they crash together again.

They’re kissing and _everyone_ is looking. They’re seeing exactly what’s been going on between them and whether they understand it or not, they’re witnesses to it.

Kelly cat-calls in the background and makes Jared smile against Jensen’s lips.

He has no idea where they’re going but the ride seems promising.

He can’t say goodbye properly right now or he’ll lose his nerve and miss out on potentially the best thing that’s ever happened in his life. Jared knows Kelly will understand.

“Where are we heading?” Jared asks as he breaks away from the hunter and slips into the passenger seat that is still set up to fit his frame. Like he belongs there.

“Salina.”

There are a million loose ends to deal with but all Jared can say is, “drive.”

**THE END**

The story was inteded to end here. In my head this is a top!Jensen/bottom!Jared 'verse. However, the epilogue is optional because it has bottom!Jensen/top!Jared for a very specific reason (that involves Jared's powers and trust/touch issues).  Therefore, the epilogue doesn't change the way the story reads AT all. You can skip it if you'd like the 'verse to stay absolutely top!Jensen/bottom!Jared.

If you want to continue: [Two Sides of the Same Coin - Epilogue: Merge](http://archiveofourown.org/works/1163505)


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